A Safe Place
by cloudyme
Summary: Santana is a bartender in NYC, enjoying her simple, carefree life until a Twitter encounter with a very special unicorn in need of a safe place changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

_Santana is a bartender in NYC, enjoying her simple, carefree life until a Twitter encounter with a very special unicorn in need of a safe place changes everything._

**Hi folks! This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction, I've had a couple of ideas in my head for a while and I finally decided to give it a try. English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes! Enjoy and let me know what you think :-) **

"Quinn! Get your cute little butt over here, I gotta show you something!"

"What is it?" Quinn asked, walking into the small living room wrapped in a towel.

"Jennifer Lawrence just favorited my tweet about her dress!" I said proudly.

Quinn let out a small laugh and graciously fell on the couch beside me. "Santana, you seriously need to stop being on Twitter so much, you're becoming addicted."

"Hey, I have 1867 followers who LOVE my tweets. Besides, I am not one of those creepy kids who spend all day in the darkness of their rooms hoping their celebrity crush will finally notice them. Or one of those crazy bitches who like to go all Catfish on some chick living on the other side of the planet." I closed my laptop and looked at my roommate. "I am just channeling my inner talent."

"Which is...?"

"Making short, hilarious comments about famous people?"

Quinn raised her eyebrows. "Whatever, just help me pick an outfit for tonight. Puck is bringing me to this fancy restaurant, I need to look perfect."

"Fine, let me see what the options are."

We both got up from the couch and entered Quinn's room. Of course her picks were as sexy as a nun's dress, but after some arguing we both agreed on a black tight dress which was hugging her curves perfectly but was definitely classy enough for her liking.

"So, I suppose you're not gonna come home until tomorrow morning?" I asked, winking towards her.

"Are you seriously that interested in my sex life? Cause that's totally creepy and none of your business. And by the way not everybody is constantly looking for sex like you, Santana..." Quinn answered, fixing her make up one last time.

"I know your boyfriend and he definitely is. And don't make me look like some sex addict. I wouldn't mind finding myself a good girl you know, but I am waiting for the right one to show up, And in the meanwhile what's the harm in a couple of one night stands to keep me warm at night?"

"Ok, with this I am totally going out. See ya!" And with that Quinn was out of the door.

"Good luck getting laid, Puck" I muttered to myself, giggling slightly.

I was glad I had the house for myself; being a bartender in a pretty popular bar in NYC meant I was busy working nearly every evening, so it was great to finally have some time to just be lazy on the couch. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a beer and some leftovers from the fridge and got back into the living room, getting ready for my night of television and laziness. After an hour, though, I realized that all the channels were either airing some sappy romantic movie or some old teen drama I had already seen at least three times. I looked at my computer.

"Screw you, Fabray" I said to myself opening my laptop.

Within seconds I was back on Twitter, scrolling my timeline and minding other people's business. I had deleted the app from my phone because Quinn claimed I spent more time reading tweets than listening to her whenever we were out together. Which was probably true, but I just didn't have the patience to listen to her complaining about her boyfriend for some silly thing he did every freaking time; I loved the girl, but she could be pretty annoying.

With the corner of my eye I saw I had a couple of notifications. Two people had retweeted some stuff I had wrote during the day; with nothing better to do I went to give a quick look at their profiles. The first one was a creepy guy who obsessively ranted about celebrities like a crazy fangirl; I couldn't expect anything different from the "crazyrihannalover92" nickname. The second one had gone for "brittisunicorn" and even if I thought it was the perfect name for some 12 years old "BELIEBER" or something, I was surprised to find out it actually belonged to a 20 years old girl from New York, as it was said in her bio. Her picture showed a cat with a cowboy hat and a huge belly. I found myself laughing at most of the things she wrote; she seemed to write about anything that went through her mind and even if some stuff seemed kinda odd, I found her smart in an unusual, funny way. There was one tweet I particularly appreciated.

"**Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?"**

I instantly felt the need to say something about the matter, so I quickly typed a reply.

"**brittisunicorn** _**should have figured that. I mean have you heard their voice? SO GAY**_**."**

As soon as my comment was published, I found myself waiting for any kind of aknowledgment. "Don't you dare retweeting me and not answering" I thought to myself. While waiting for a possible reply, I clicked the follow button on her profile. The girl was probably online because within seconds I got answered and followed back.

**"snixxkeepsitreal ** _**I know right? Known that for yeasssss... glad someone agrees! ;)**_**"**

That totally made me smile. Perfectly fitting with her personality, at least from what I could have figured out.

**"brittisunicorn **_**we're too smart for people, they're not there yet. Have a nice evening Unicorn :-)**_**"**

**"snixxkeepsitreal **_**you too... "Snixx" :P"**_

Funny, smart and self confident. I wondered if she was pretty too. Probably not, or else she would have used her picture and not a fat cat's one. Still, how could I know?

I turned off my laptop for good and decided to call it a night; it wasn't really that late but I felt my eyelids pretty heavy and I didn't really want to doze off on the couch just to wake up in the middle of the night drooling over the pillows and with my neck hurting like a bitch.

Under the covers and waiting to fall asleep, I couldn't help but think about the short conversation I had with "unicorn girl", a small smile reaching my lips again. I was definitely gonna talk to her again.


	2. Chapter 2

**I didn't expect to have reviews so soon, I am so glad! And to the guest reviewer who said Puck would probably bring Quinn to a McDonald's... nah, he actually chose a fancy place cause he's just trying to be nice to his girlfriend (and hopefully get some sexy times :-P). Anyway, here's the second chapter! **

Waking up to the high-pitched sound of the alarm clock wasn't really the best way to start the day, but I really had to get out of bed. It was my turn to go buy groceries and the bathroom really needed to be cleaned. I had heard Quinn coming home at six in the morning, so I wasn't gonna get any help from her; she would probably still be asleep by the time I headed out for work right after lunch. At least I was happy she had had some fun with Puck last night. That guy could be a douche at times, but he loved Quinn and he really did his best to show it to her; I thought he deserved a reward for his efforts.

I reluctantly got up and went to the kitchen, hoping a nice breakfast could put me in a better mood. Of course, the fridge was nearly empty except for a few bad looking leftovers and two bottles of milk. And of course, the milk had gone bad not sooner than a month ago.

I could already tell it was gonna be a long day.

Deciding I was gonna grab a cup of coffee and a donut on my way to the grocery store, I went back to my room and put on a pair of skinny jeans, a t-shirt and my favourite NYC hoodie. I opted for my old pair of All-Star, I didn't really have to impress anybody. I grabbed my coat, my phone and my purse and I walked out of the apartment.

The short walk to the store lightened my mood; I've always liked walking down the streets of the city during winter. Though maybe I was just really happy about my donut.

I entered the store and started looking for stuff for both Quinn and I. Within twenty minutes I had my cart full and I was ready to go pay and head back home. Walking towards the check-out, I heard the loud voice of a man yelling at somebody.

"ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED?!"

As soon as I turned the corner of the aisle I saw a bald, tall guy screaming towards a blonde girl clerk who faced him with a terrified look. The floor and his shoes were covered in tomato sauce, which had probably poured out of some of the cans that were currently on the ground. What had just happened was pretty clear.

"YOU JUST RUINED MY SHOES!"

"I am so sorry, I swear-"

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT HOW SORRY YOU ARE, YOU STUPID BITCH! LOOK AT MY FUCKING SHOES!"

"Please sir, let me clean them, I am sure I can fix it, just-"

As the girl was about to crouch down and try to clean the mess, the guy grabbed her by her shoulders, gripping her tightly while he kept yelling in her face.

"DON'T EVEN TRY TO FIX THIS, USELESS WHORE! YOU'RE ONLY GOOD AT BEING A SLUT!"

"Please stop, you're hurting me!"

Before I knew it, I was pushing the man away from the blonde and stepping between them.

"What the fuck is your problem, asshole?" I said, looking at him and feeling full of rage.

"Oh look, are you SLUT NUMBER TWO? GET LOST!" he answered, trying to look threatening.

"Okay, so this is how things are gonna go." I said, pushing my index finger into his chest. "First of all, you're gonna shut up and calm the fuck down, and I am saying it for you because you're pretty much making a fool of yourself right now. Then, you're gonna apologize to blondie here for being an utter dick. Then you and your little baboon brain can walk out of here and gladly fuck off, because if I ever see you walking into this place again, I WILL END YOU. How does that sound?" I asked offering him a fake smile.

He was one of those guys who liked to look all powerful and scary, and I knew showing I wasn't scared would have made him chicken out.

As I expected, he shouted one last "SCREW YOU BOTH" and walked away.

I finally turned around and looked at the girl I just stood up for, who was now hurriedly trying to clean up the mess on the floor. I bent down and tried to help as I could, and I noticed she was desperately trying to avoid my gaze.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry... I'm new here and... You don't have to... I am so sorry..."

"Hey, calm down." I tried to sound reassuring. "Nothing happened. Don't let some random asshole ruin your day. Here, look, we cleaned everything, you could literally eat from the floor now. No more tomato sauce tho." I said smiling.

I usually wasn't a nice person. Like, at all. But I totally had a weakness for girls, plus she looked so fragile and lost that I felt like I had to at least try and make her feel better.

Apparently I succeeded, because she finally looked up, and as soon as she did I was taken aback by how pretty she was. Her ocean blue eyes were glossy from the tears she had been trying to hold back; only one of them had managed to escape and draw its path over her left cheek. Her pale skin made her look like the most delicate human being on Earth. I noticed a small smile tugging at the corner of her thin, pink lips, and I instantly felt relieved. My silly joke had made her smile.

Before she could say anything, a door behind her was opened by an older woman whose glance was a mixture of anger, annoyance and disappointment.

"Pierce. My office. Now." And with that, she closed the door again.

The girl, looking frightened again, immediately stood up and went to the door the other woman had just appeared and disappeared from. I was about to turn around and go back to my cart when I saw her stop her motions and stand still with her hand on the door knob. She turned her head and looked at me again.

"Thanks."

Just one word and she was gone.

"You're welcome" I whispered to myself.

**I know these first chapters were pretty short, but I figured it would better to begin**** with shorter and more frequent updates so you can get more familiar with the universe I have in mind for the story ;-). Don't worry tho, we'll get into real business soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy, and keep telling me what you think!**

I was two hours into my afternoon shift at the bar and I was pretty bored. The place was open from 7 o'clock in the morning until around 2 o'clock at night non-stop, but most of the people came here either for breakfast or after dinner, so at that time, 4 P.M., everything was pretty quiet. There were only a couple of customers who were sitting in a boot in the corner, chatting quietly while drinking their coffees. Tina, my coworker and friend, was washing the last few dirty dishes, and I had already cleaned all the tables so I was left with nothing to do.

"I hate afternoon shifts..." I mumbled.

"Do you prefer staying here til 3 A.M. cleaning the floor ?" Tina asked.

"Ugh, no..."

"Or wake up at 6 A.M. to be here in time for the morning shift?"

"Ok, ok... I hate all shifts then."

Tina giggled. "At least we have a decent paycheck."

And it was true. Maybe my job wasn't always pleasant, but our boss, Mr. Schuester, was definitely generous with his employees. Not that it was that big of an effort, the bar was making him earn a lot of money after all.

Like, a lot a lot.

I took my phone out of my pocket to check for any texts. The only one I got was from Quinn, telling me I was supposed to buy strawberries and I forgot. Whatever. The text reminded me of what happened in the grocery store only a few hours before; I could still see those blue eyes looking at me and those tiny lips smile softly. I thought that maybe the following day I could go buy the damn strawberries and see if I could find the blonde girl. Ask her if she was fine. If she needed anything. Or if she wanted to go get a coffee with me some day. Or maybe just skip the coffee and head straight to my bed.

She looked so sweet and fragile though, she probably wasn't the one-night-stand kind of girl. Maybe she even had a boyfriend. What a shame.

I forced myself to go back to reality and refocused my attention on my phone. I had downloaded the Twitter app again, and since there was still no sign of new costumers, I started scrolling my timeline. There she was, unicorn girl with a new random statement.

**"I refuse to be restrained by the laws of men. I like to think outside of the box."**

Weird. And brilliant?

I wanted to start another interaction, but I couldn't really think of a fitting comment. Probably the first time ever I was left without a witty remark. What if I just sent her a Direct Message to try and see if she wanted to chat a little bit? She seemed funny and nice and I was beyond bored at that point, I could have used some entertainment. But maybe writing to her just out of the blue would have made me look creepy; or maybe she was just gonna ignore me, I did that all the time when unknown people tried to chat with me.

I was freaking out over a text. That probably hadn't happened since I was 14.

_"Put your crap together, Lopez. Do what the hell you want to. If she doesn't answer, who cares. No biggie" _I said to myself.

I opened the message window and realized I had no idea on how to start the convo. What was I supposed to say? And how was I supposed to say it? I wondered if asking Tina for help could be a good idea. Yeah, like she wasn't gonna make fun of me for not being able to approach a girl online, and probably tell Quinn about it and then make fun of me again with her help.

My thumbs kept lingering over the screen without actually tapping anything. Tina noticed that.

"Who are you texting?" she asked curiously.

"No one. Take care of the new customers, please?"

"...sure." Tina went towards the table that had just been occupied by three women in their forties.

By the time she was back with their order I still hadn't written anything. She handed it to Sam, one of the guys who worked in the kitchen, then disappeared in the back, not before sending me another quick glance.

I was starting to feel pretty stupid and since I obviously couldn't spend an entire afternoon on writing a freaking message, I decided to keep it simple.

_**Hello :-)**_

It took me ONLY fifteen minutes to come up with this. Great job, Lopez.

* * *

I spent the rest of the shift carrying around boxes full of bottles, occasionally serving costumers and, of course, glancing at my phone every ten minutes. Because it was nearly 8 P.M., about time for me to go home, and unicorn girl hadn't answered yet. She actually hadn't posted anything since her last tweet, so it was possible she hadn't been online again after that, but I still felt like I had made a fool of myself.

My shift finally came to an end, and at 8:10 P.M. I was out of the door and on the bus heading back to my apartment. Thankfully I lived only three stops away from my workplace.

As soon as I walked through the door I spotted Quinn on the couch, watching some silly reality show about cooking.

"Hola, girl. How was work?"

"Boring as usual. How was your special date night with your dumb boyfriend?"

"Awesome as usual." Quinn smiled slightly, her eyes still on the tv. "And don't call him dumb. He was the sweetest last night."

"The things that guy would do to get laid. Have you already had dinner?"

"Nope. I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on today and I came home pretty late, so I just figured I could wait for you. I ordered Chinese, should be here any minute now."

As soon as our dinner arrived, I settled on the couch beside her and we ate together in comfortable silence, occasionally commenting on the dumb show we were watching. I had just finished my food when my phone buzzed. Sending it a quick glance and realizing it was out of my reach, I settled my attention back to the television. So Quinn just decided to check it for me.

"Who's 'brittisunicorn'?" she asked.

I turned my head instantly. "What? Give me the phone!" I launched myself at her and took my phone from her hand.

There it was, her reply.

_**Hello to you ^^**_

"Santana, who's that?" Quinn asked again.

"No one."

"I am pretty sure it has to be someone."

"Some Twitter chick."

"Is she pretty?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out, so will you please shut your mouth and let me answer?"

Quinn turned back to the tv, the " I know better" smirk on her face. I suppressed the urge of punching her just because I didn't want unicorn girl to go offline again before I even had the chance to answer. So I focused on typing instead.

\- _**Hey, I had already lost my hope of getting a reply! How you doin'?**_

_**\- Sorrrrrry, just got online! Tiring day at work, but I'm cool. Wbu? :) **_

She actually wanted to chat with me. SCORE.

_**\- I'm cool too... Hope you don't mind I wrote you. Got bored at work. I'm Santana btw**_

_**\- I don't mind at all :) nice name, I'm Brittany!**_

She didn't mind at all.

_**\- So, Brittany, you're 20 and from New York?**_

_**\- Yep, where are u from?**_

_**\- NY, just like you. And I am 24.**_

_**\- That's cool! I love this city. Do you have a favourite place? I do ;)**_

Cute as fuck. I didn't even know her and I already thought she was CUTE AS FUCK.

_**\- Uhm... I just like the streets I guess. I'm curious about yours ;-)**_

_**\- It's a secret, but maybe I'll tell you one day :P **_

We eventually started talking about cool places around the city, music, food and other random stuff. I told her I was Latina and she told me she was half Dutch. I was amazed at how easy it was to keep the conversation going; when Quinn got up from the couch and told me she was gonna head to bed I realized I had been chatting with Brittany for around an hour and a half. Remembering that I had a morning shift the next day, I figured it was about time to go to sleep for me too. I reluctantly started typing my goodnight.

_**\- Hey, I think I gotta go now. Waking up at 6 A.M. for work tomorrow**_

_**\- Awww okay... *pout face***_

I smiled at that. CUTE.

_**\- No pouts, we are gonna totally gonna talk again soon**__**!**_

_**\- Yay! Absolutely! So many more things to tell ya :D**_

_**\- Whenever you want :-) Goodnight, Brittany.**_

_**\- Sleep tight Santana :-* **_

The girl was sweet. And amazing. And willing to talk again soon.

I walked into my bedroom, changed into my usual sleeping attire and got under the covers with these thoughts on repeat in my head. I felt kinda silly, because at the end of the day I still didn't know anything about Brittany; I didn't even know why the fact that I had been able to have a chat with a nice girl felt like some sort of achievement. Hell, I still didn't know what she looked like. I really didn't want to develop any kind of expectation about this whole thing; I was gonna keep my feet on the ground and enjoy this possible new friendship.

I felt myself slowly dozing off, very aware of the small, peaceful smile still lingering on my face.


	4. Chapter 4

**I really put effort in this one, I hope you will like it as much as I liked writing it. And of course, thanks again for the feedback, it means a lot... keep it coming guys!**

The next morning I had stepped into the bar feeling like a zombie. Probably even a drunk one. Forcing a girl to get out of the warmth and comfort of her bed at 6 fucking A.M. just to carry omelets around and wash the remains of bacon off a huge stack of dishes was utter cruelty. Even if said girl got paid for it.

"Stop complaining and keep washing Santana, we're running out of plates here! You're going to get us fired!"

"And you just stop being a drama queen already, there are at least twenty of them right under your nose. I don't blame you though, I understand why you can't see them... with THAT NOSE I wouldn't even be able to watch my steps when I walk."

Ok, that was mean, but the last thing I needed at that moment was one Rachel Berry giving me a headache with her over-the-top personality and her annoying attitude kicking in every two seconds. She was another one of my coworkers, and the only one I was actually kinda friend with, along with Tina. They were better with people and I was better with drinks, so they were the ones taking care of costumers and orders while I stayed behind the counter working my magic with vodkas and tequilas. Of course I also took care of making coffees and when the place was particularly crowded or no one was asking for alcoholic stuff I helped as a waitress, but driving people crazy with my awesome drinks was by far my favorite activity.

Eventually the income of dirty dishes started to slow down and I was able to take a quick break. I wiped my hands on the apron and took my phone from the pocket. It was totally what I had been hoping for, but I was still pleasantly surprised to see that Brittany had sent me a message twenty minutes before.

**\- Heading to my workplace now... just wanted to wish u an awwwwwesome day!**

That of course led to a large grin appearing on my face. I wasn't sure I could handle that amount of cuteness.

"Great to see you in a good mood, Lopez!" I raised my head to see Sam looking at me, his head appearing from the kitchen door.

"Just tell me what you need or fuck off, Sam."

"Here, that's the Santana I know." He said smiling. "I am going to get some stuff from the back, just wanted to know if you were running short of anything at the counter so I could get it for you."

"No, thanks, Rachel just refilled the fridge."

He nodded and disappeared again. Poor boy, he was dumb as fuck, but kind-hearted. And he would have been cute too, if not for his freakishly huge mouth. I didn't understand how his girlfriend could avoid freaking out every time he basically swallowed her lips when they kissed. Not only that, but how could she even like it? Then again I wondered how girls could like kissing guys in general, but MAYBE that had to do with the fact that I was 110% gay. Full-time lesbian with no regrets.

To me, there was just no comparison. How could you enjoy being in bed with a heavy, sweaty, hairy sack of potatoes awkwardly panting above you when the alternative was made up of soft skin, warm lips and smooth legs?

I brought my focus back to reality, realizing I was supposed to answer to a certain someone who had bothered using a few minutes of her time to wish me a nice day. No, an "awwwwwesome" day.

**\- That just made my day, enjoy yours as well ;-)**

I still didn't know how she looked like, not even if she was actually a girl. I had checked all the pictures she had ever posted one by one, but she was in none of them. I cringed at the thought that "Brittany" could be a 40 year old black dude or some other creep, and I instantly pushed the idea aside. It had to be a girl, a sweet one too. Maybe she just didn't like herself and didn't want to show her face?

I realized there was at least a huge possibility that she wasn't pretty at all. Did I really mind, though? She was still really cool and easy going, probably fun to hang out with. It wasn't like I had to hook up with every girl I met, female friends existed too.

I put my phone back in my pocket and resumed doing my duty as a bartender. I was gonna ask Quinn for advice.

* * *

I was cuddled on the couch, comfy clothes on and a book in my lap, when Quinn entered the apartment.

"Why home so early?"

"I managed to convince my boss that my job for the day was done. I just needed to get out of the office and get my weekend started."

"Did you use your sexy-secretary skills for that?" I asked playfully.

"Ew, never."

I put the book on the coffee table and turned slightly towards her. "Quinn, can I talk to you about something?"

She stopped her motions. "Is it something I should be worried about?"

"No, of course not. I just need advice on this... thing."

"Sure, but only if you make your killer chicken noodle soup for dinner. I've been cold all day, I'm craving it."

"Fine, no problem." I said standing up and making my way to the kitchen.

"And if you tell me why the hell did you download the Twitter app on your phone again. We talked about it!" She added.

"My "thing" has something to do with it actually. And whatever, I don't know what to do without it when I am bored."

"Uff. Ok, just tell me what is it." She came to stand with me in the kitchen while I moved around, gathering the stuff I needed to make the soup.

By the time dinner was ready, I had explained pretty much everything to Quinn, who had listened to me the whole time without interrupting. We sat down at the table and when I was finished, I looked at her expectantly.

"So, long story short," she started "the girl who wrote you last night is this Brittany chick. You think she's cool but basically you're scared she's actually a guy or ugly as fuck."

"Yeah, pretty much... and I don't mind if she's ugly, I just wanna be friends. But I find this online stuff kinda weird. It's not my thing ."

"What about asking her for a picture?"

"I feel like it would be rude. I don't want her to think that I'm asking because the way she looks could affect my opinion about her."

" Awww, listen to yourself! What happened to the "my bitches gotta look good" Santana? And I was literally quoting you with that."

"Jeez, it's different, I'm not looking for a hook up. There's this cool gal and I wanna find out how she looks like, end of the story."

"Just ask her to meet you then. She's from New York too right? And it's totally better than asking for a picture. You can just tell her you wanna hang out cause you think she's fun. Which would be the truth by the way" Quinn pointed out.

"And you think she will say yes? We only spoke a couple of times, isn't it too soon?"

"If you wanna find out, you just gotta ask."

Quinn had a point. And I had thought about it too, but I didn't want to scare Brittany by being too forward or give her the wrong idea. I kept being quiet while we finished the soup and just as I was about to put our dishes in the sink my phone buzzed. I literally pushed Quinn out of my way to get it, and of course it was _her._

_**\- **_**Can you talk? :)**

"Is it her?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah..."

"Go on and ask her to hang out!"

"I can't ask her right away!"

"Here, give me the phone, I'll handle it for you..." she tried to reach for my phone and I slapped her hand away.

"No way! You wash the dishes, I'll take care of it."

Quinn sighed and raised her hands in defeat. "Fine, but you better ask her."

I went to sit down on the couch and quickly typed a reply.

**\- Of course. What's up?**

**\- Nothing special, but today I went to my favourite place!**

**-Still not telling me where is it?**

**-Nah, way too soon:P **

**\- Can I ask you something Britt?**

**\- If you call me Britt you can ask me anything ;)**

I lightly blushed at that, and I was glad Quinn couldn't see it.

**\- I was wondering if one of these days you wanted to hang out...**

**\- As in meeting you?**

**\- Yeah, like you could come to the bar where I work and we could get a drink**

Her reply wasn't coming.

**\- I mean, I like you and online friendships are not my thing**

Still no reply.

**\- But I don't mean it in a bad way, just... I'd rather actually talk to u**

And just as I was about to go hide myself in shame forever, she sent the damn reply.

**\- Can I think about it?**

Not what I had hoped for, but still better than nothing.

**\- Absolutely! tell me whenever you like :-)**

**\- Ok, thanks :3 I've got some stuff to do now, I'll let you know! byeee :***

I raised my head and found Quinn staring at me.

"So?"

"I asked her, and she said she'll think about it."

"Well, that's a start. But if she refuses to meet you, means she's got something to hide."

I didn't even want to think about that possibility. I really, really hoped that Brittany was actually the person I thought she was; I hated to think that there was a chance this girl was just the fruit of someone's imagination. But if I had to be honest, I had a good feeling about this.

I had been living in New York for the last four years and during all this time I had never been able to complain about my life; of course not everything about it was perfect, but whenever I looked at it I saw how I really had no reason to be unhappy or ask for more than what I already had. Still, the more time went by, the more I felt like I was unconsciously waiting for something to turn my life upside down, to take everything I knew from me and replace it with the beautiful vibes and the mesmerizing colors of the unknown. And I knew that if I really wanted to experience any of that I had to start taking advantage of the opportunities life occasionally offered to me. So whenever something unusual crossed my path, I couldn't help but look at it with a mixture of anxiety, hope and excitement, and this time it was no different. My simple, carefree life was a safe place, and who knew, maybe Brittany was just the opportunity I needed to step outside of it and enjoy the sense of freedom that came with the unexpected.


	5. Chapter 5

**I loved reading the new reviews, and I see some of you have questions about the whole situation with Brittany... just be patient, I left some stuff out on purpose, everything will be explained :-) I decided to use Santana's POV as the only way to tell the story so you guys can understand things gradually as she does. I feel like I am finally putting some more feelings into my writing, which can be really complicated when you have thoughts and ideas in a language but you have to write them down in another... Anyway, here's your new chapter! Reviews always welcome!**

I had been anxious all morning. I knew I had told Brittany that she could take her time, and not even 24 hours had passed since I had said that, but I still couldn't stop myself from checking my phone every ten minutes.

"Santana, I am gonna take that stupid phone and throw it into the toilet if you don't calm down!" Quinn suddenly snapped at me. We were in the middle of our lazy Saturday afternoon, she was sitting at the kitchen table removing her nail polish while I was on a chair beside her reading a magazine. Well, more like staring at it while chewing my nails.

"Thank you so much, Quinn, I really need to be yelled at right now" I said back.

She looked at me for a few seconds. "Okay, you need a distraction. Go get dressed, we're going out."

"Out? Where?"

"I don't know, to grab... an ice-cream or something!"

"Yeah, great idea, I really need a fucking ice-cream right now, it's so warm outside!"

"A hot chocolate then!"

"Ugh. Fine."

"And you're giving me your phone."

"But what if Brittany sends me a message?"

"I'll check it for you. You're going insane, your little brain needs a break." Quinn stated. "And by the way, you are freaking out way too much about this. You barely know her, would it be that big of a deal if she said no?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Well... maybe not, but then I'll feel like a moron for asking. Still, I really want to meet her." I got up from my chair and headed to my room. "Gimme a sec, I'll be right back and we can go out." Quinn just nodded.

In a few minutes I was dressed and ready to go. The black jumper I was wearing probably wasn't the most fashionable thing in the world, but it was a crazy cold day and if I really had to go out with annoying Fabray, at least I had to avoid freezing to death.

"Phone?" Quinn asked, her hand outstretched. I rolled my eyes and handed it to her. I then followed her out of the door and down the stairs; she kept that "I won" smirk plastered on her face until we stepped on the sidewalk.

"You're smirking too much for my liking lately" I told her." And you didn't even thank me for cleaning the bathroom the other day."

"Because I did it last week and it was your turn? Besides, it's not like you ever thank me for that. And you totally should, because you are the one who has sex under the shower with her random hook-ups, and I never complained."

"I don't like you today."

"You never like me, you love me!"Quinn said hooking her arm around mine. I let out a laugh and we started walking down the road.

* * *

We ended up having a walk in a small park not far from our apartment, talking about silly stuff and bringing back memories from our high school days while drinking hot chocolate. It had been a nice afternoon after all, with only one bad note: my phone had stayed completely silent the whole time.

As soon as we got back home, I snatched it out of Quinn's hand and checked it again, only to find out there was still no news from Brittany. I groaned in frustration and threw it on the couch, where it bounced a couple of times before falling down on the carpet.

Quinn went to pick it up."Hey. No need to go Chris Brown on this poor thing. I guess unicorn is still silent?"

"Yeah. She hasn't even posted anything on Twitter since yesterday" I told her. "I'll go take a quick shower."I disappeared into the bathroom before she could reply.

By the time I was out of the shower and dressed, Quinn had made sandwiches for both of us. I ate mine in a hurry, because I had to be at work in less than a hour. When I was done, I quickly gathered my stuff, waved Quinn goodbye and I was out of the door.

While waiting for the bus, I thought I was kinda glad I had a night shift. Yeah, I had to work on a Saturday night, but I was gonna be too busy making drinks to think about the fact that I had made myself look like a creepy idiot with Brittany. _Ugh, just stop bothering about it already._

* * *

That night the bar was crowded, and I was running back and forth with my hands full of bottles and glasses, trying to make as many drinks as I could. I didn't mind though, I knew my way behind the counter and how to handle the huge amount of people shouting their orders all at the same time. I liked to keep my motions in time with the rhythm of the music pumping out of the speakers, it helped fighting the tiredness and the sore arms that usually came after a few hours of bartending. Also, I couldn't fight my Puerto Rican blood.

It was around 1 A.M. and the crowd of people was slowly leaving the place, headed to other pubs and discos or simply home. I felt sticky and sweaty, so I told Tina I was leaving my place behind the bar for a second and went to the small bathroom in the back to freshen up a little bit. I went to the sink and let some water pool in my hands before splashing it on my face, instantly relieved by the sensation. As I was washing the remains of drinks off my lower arms, I felt my phone buzzing in the pocket of my apron. I quickly wiped my hands on a towel and grabbed it; a text that late at night could mean trouble. I sighed in relief when I saw it was just some notification on Twitter. Nothing important.

_Wait. Twitter?_

My eyes widened when I realized there was a new message in my inbox by one "brittisunicorn".

**-Hey ;) sorry for taking so long. I hope I am not waking you up or something... anyway**

_Why the hell did you cut the message here? Anyway...?_

Another message was delivered at that moment.

**\- like it's ok if not cuz maybe you don't want anymore since I left you waiting all day**

_-_ **and I really really didn't want to be rude or made you think that I forgot**

**\- (I pinky promise that)**

I would have found this last one very cute if I hadn't been holding my phone like a psycho, waiting for her to get to the point.

\- **but I'd like to hang out with you. Maybe tomorrow after lunch? :3**

I fist pumped in the air.

\- **only if you're not busy... I know it's kinda late to ask**

**\- and you're probably reading it in the morning so even later...**

**\- kayyyyy I shut up you tell me**

I typed my reply so fast that I nearly dropped my phone (again).

**\- You're lucky I'm on my night shift and tomorrow is my day off ;-)**

**\- Where do u wanna go? And btw don't worry that much, I asked just yesterday!**

I didn't bother mentioning it had been the longest 24 hours of my life.

-** you awake! uhm... You mentioned your workplace, is it cool? I wanna see it^^**

My grin was huge. Only Sam could do better than that.

**\- Of course! 3 P.M.?**

**\- awesome! Text me the address of the bar tmrw... I'm off to bed, nightttt!**

**\- See ya tomorrow! **

I put my phone back in the pocket and started doing a little victory dance on the spot. I stopped only when I saw Tina standing on the doorway staring at me with a confused but very amused expression.

"Uhm, I just wanted to tell you all the costumers are gone so we are closing now."

"Yeah. I'll come and help."

"There's really not much to do, you can change and go home."

I nodded and quickly exited the bathroom.

" May I ask what was that?"Tina inquired, following me.

"What?" I asked, trying to sound casual while I put my apron down.

"That awkward bunch of dance moves."

"Nothing." I answered, pretty embarrassed but also still grinning.

"Did you land a date with Olivia Wilde?"

"Close. I'll tell you more tomorrow. You have the afternoon shift right?"

"Yeah but..."

"Goodnight Tina, see you soon!" I interrupted her, and with that I stepped outside in the cold air.

On the road back to my apartment, I couldn't help but smile again to myself. I already knew that once home I was gonna shake a very annoyed Quinn off her sleep to tell her everything about what had happened. And that I was gonna annoy her even more the next morning, walking around the house with a nervous excitement asking her for advice on what to wear. But I didn't care, because Brittany was real and ready to meet me, and I needed to share that with my best friend. Plus, not even a million pissed Fabrays could bring me down from cloud nine at that moment; I was making a step out of my comfort zone, and never had I ever thought it would feel this good.


	6. Chapter 6

**...more than a hundred people following this story! Wow! I am so thankful. I wanted you to know that chapters will probably be longer from now on, as we're getting deeper into the plot. This one was pretty tough to write, but I hope it turned out fine. Also, I should warn you that the story won't always be this lightweight. M rating is there for a reason. But I don't wanna spoil anything so... enjoy!**

"BREAKFAST IS READY!"

"Mmmm... What the hell..."

"Come on! My awesome pancakes don't like to wait!"

Quinn slowly raised her head from the pillow, her eyes barely open. "I honestly can't remember the last time you woke up before noon on your day off. Or generally in such a good mood."

"Whatever. Hurry up!"

I closed the door behind me, leaving Quinn's room and going back to the kitchen. She was right, I always slept through the whole morning when I didn't have to work. And no matter what time I got up from bed, I always needed at least a couple of hours before I could stop being grumpy. Today was different for obvious reasons. I had slept pretty well during the night, much better than I thought I would have, but as soon as I had opened my eyes at 9 A.M. I had felt the urge to get out of bed and get the day started.

I was tasting the first bite of my pancake when Quinn entered the kitchen, yawning blatantly. "You look pretty awful, you know." I told her playfully.

She fell onto the chair beside me and started eating too."Well, only because some bitch kept me awake until four in the morning to talk about her blind date. And she came back to my room only five hours later yelling about pancakes."

"You're my best friend, you're supposed to not make me feel guilty about it! And by the way it's not a blind date. It's not even a date." I stated. "I have no idea on what to expect about Brittany, honestly. I mean, hoping she's both pretty and gay seems a bit too much. I don't really wanna push my luck."

"You can probably consider yourself very lucky if she turns out to actually be a girl."

I was starting to get annoyed."Will you stop being so negative about this whole thing?"

Quinn paused for a second. "You're right, I am sorry" she said, putting a hand on my arm. "I just don't want you to be too disappointed if something doesn't go as you expect."

"Yeah, I know" I answered, covering her hand with mine and smiling lightly. "But I have a good feeling about today." I squeezed her hand and let it go, trying to be reassuring. I knew she was just trying to protect me, but I was sure there was no need to.

"Okay, but if you sense anything even slightly wrong, you just walk away and call me, I'll come pick you up. Deal?"

"Deal" I said raising my hands. "And if it makes you feel better, I am meeting Brittany at Schuester's, Tina and Rachel will be there, and Sam too. He will swallow whoever will try to harm me."

"That does make me feel better" Quinn said smiling, and I could see she was starting to relax a bit.

The rest of the morning went by faster than I had expected. We picked the clothes I was gonna wear and I turned out being pretty satisfied with the choice: a grey sweater that stopped around mid-thigh, black leggings and boots with grey legwarmers. I let my curly hair fall loosely on my shoulders and applied very small make-up on my face; I liked the natural color of my skin.

Since Quinn had planned to go have lunch with Puck and his parents, I decided to just head to the bar, eat something and wait for Brittany there. My roommate and I stepped on the sidewalk together, she gave me a quick hug while telling me one last "good luck, be careful" and with that we parted ways.

It was around 1.30 P.M. when I entered the door of Schuester's. There was a good number of people having lunch; I immediately spotted Tina and Rachel.

"Here she is." Tina said. "I was just telling Rachel about the fact that you were stopping by this afternoon for unknown reasons."

"Chill, I'm just meeting a friend."

"Since when do you bring your dates here?" Rachel asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I said FRIEND, Berry." They both looked like they wanted to know more about it, so I explained: "She's a girl I met online, we just agreed to have a coffee together. I'm meeting her for the first time today, so you two behave." I tried to play it cool. "And mind your own business, I don't need you around us all afternoon trying to eavesdrop and freaking Brittany out."

"So her name is Brittany?" Tina replied.

"Who's Brittany?" I heard Sam asking from the kitchen.

"Oh God, I knew I shouldn't have come here." I muttered.

"She's Santana's FRIEND, Sam." Rachel said elbowing Tina.

"Okay, I'm gonna go take a seat, can you please bring me a cheeseburger and also CUT THE CRAP?"

"Yeah yeah, just go sit down, I'll be there in a second" Tina told me.

I went to my favorite table in the corner and plopped down on the chair. In a few minutes Tina was back with my order and thank God she kept her mouth shut. Even if she had been playing along with Rachel before, I knew she wasn't gonna embarrass me with Brittany or intrude in any way, and she was also gonna keep Rachel at distance.

* * *

It was 3 P.M. sharp and I was a nervous mess. I kept glancing at my phone for any sign of Brittany telling me she was there or at least on her way; I even went to check if I had sent her the right address, just in case. I cursed myself for choosing a table in a position that allowed some privacy, but also prevented me from seeing clearly who entered the bar.

I decided to send her a message, more than anything in order to keep myself busy, and I was about to start typing when I heard the loud sound of dishes crashing on the floor. I quickly stood up and went toward the source of the noise. I saw Rachel and a blonde girl on the floor, a few feet away from the entrance, food and broken dishes all around them. Apparently they had run into each other and the mess currently on display was the obvious result.

"Shit, shit, shit, I'm so sorry..." I heard the girl mutter while trying to help Rachel pick up what remained of the plates. There was something familiar about the whole situation and more specifically about the girl's delicate voice.

I got closer and crouched down to help; that allowed me to have a better view of the girl that had just knocked Berry down. I couldn't believe it.

_Supermarket chick?_

I then saw a phone laying on the ground near my right foot. I caught a glimpse of the screen that was still lit up and when I realized I was staring at a Twitter timeline, I put two and two together.

I grabbed the blonde's wrist, which caused her to stop her motions and look up at me.

"Are you Brittany?"

Her eyes widened slightly and as she was about to answer Rachel started speaking.

"Oh, don't worry at all, it was an accident... So you're Santana's friend? You girls go seat down, I'll clean it up! No problem!"

"Oh, okay... God this is so embarrassing..." the blonde said in a small voice. She turned upright but kept looking down and blushing.

So that was really Brittany. Supermarket chick and unicorn girl were the same person. Against all odds.

I realized we were still standing in silent in the middle of the bar, so I decided to end the embarrassing moment. "This way?" I said with a small smile, gesturing towards the table I had previously occupied. She nodded and followed me. We sat down and I noticed she kept looking at her hands, that were fidgeting nervously on her lap.

I felt all the previous nervousness slowly leave my body as I stared at the beautiful, embarrassed girl sitting at the opposite side of the table. _She's real, she's here and she's gorgeous. _Once the realization had sunk in, the smile on my face became permanent.

"Hey, your hands won't disappear if you look up for a second" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

She let out a cute giggle. "Yeah...", she said, finally raising her head to look at me, giving me the chance to see her piercing blue eyes again. They looked even brighter than the last time.

"So, uhm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you we had already met before. When you sent me the first message I took a look at a couple of your pictures and realized you were the same girl from that day at the grocery store, but I felt pretty ashamed about the whole thing... not that today has started any better... Thank you again anyway. For helping with that guy, you know..."

"I understand, don't worry about it. By the way I did nothing special, I hate that kind of douchebags. And we break at least a couple of dishes every day here, so don't worry about that either. But I can go kick Rachel's ass too, if it makes you feel better? I've wanted to do that forever " I joked.

She smiled widely this time "The waitress? Oh no, I ran into her because I was looking at my phone, but she was really nice..."

"You say that just because you don't work with her. "

At that moment Tina showed up at the table. "What can I bring you girls?"

"I'll take a diet coke, thanks." Brittany told her.

I had never thought I would find myself smiling at the way somebody said "diet coke", but there I was doing just that. Seriously though, every word coming out of her mouth sounded adorable.

_Really, Lopez?_

"I'll take one too" I answered quickly, bringing my focus back on reality.

Tina smiled kindly and went to the counter, only to come back a minute later with our cokes and a little bowl of chips. Once she was gone, I resumed the conversation. "How long have you been working at the store?"

"Just a couple of weeks... I'm lucky I haven't been fired yet, I'm really clumsy, as you know well, and my boss is a nightmare. I really needed a job though, and it was great to find one so close to my house."

"That place is only a five-minutes walk away from my apartment, I guess you don't leave that far from me! How come I never saw you around before? You've been living here for over a year, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't go out very often..."

"So what do you usually do with your friends?"

"I don't really have friends, except maybe my coworker Kurt, but I met him not long ago so..."

Even if mine was an innocent question, hearing her say those words in such a small voice made me feel like a horrible person.

"I'm your friend too." I told her. I was rewarded with a big smile that made me turn into jelly.

"I'm happy you are. And I wanna know all about you!"

I was glad she was starting to feel more comfortable; I could see her bubbly personality come to surface, finally.

"Well, I already told you basically everything, I have a pretty simple life. The waitresses you just saw, Tina and Rachel, are my closest friends, together with my roommate Quinn. She's actually my best friend since we were children."

"Aw, isn't that great!"

"Yeah, we've been through a lot together and our friendship has always been really strong. Like, we even hooked up back in high-school one time we were really drunk, but we were able to laugh about it the next day."

"Seriously?" Brittany looked at me with an astonished look.

I hoped I hadn't given out too much information."Uhm, yeah. She was just very wasted, but I am actually a lesbian. Does it... bother you?"

"Oh no, no... I mean, Kurt is gay and I don't really care so it's the same for you as well. I just never really met a gay girl before. Not that I know of anyway."

I sighed in relief, but my heart sank a little when I realized that this meant she was definitely straight.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Brittany asked curious.

"Nah, I've been enjoying the single life for a while now. Hanging out with friends, go clubbing to dance my ass off..."

"I've been into dancing since I was a little girl! I used to take lessons when I was still in Chicago..."

_That's why she's got those killer legs._

I could tell she had an awesome body even through her jeans and hoodie attire. She was absolutely stunning; that thought reminded me of something I wanted to ask her.

"Hey, I was wondering... why you never post pictures of yourself on Twitter? Not that it's really my business, but I have to admit I was kinda suspicious about it..."

"As you can tell I'm not very self-confident, so I don't like the idea of people seeing me and judging me... I had no intention to look creepy or anything... sorry."

"No need to apologize. But you shouldn't worry about people judging you, especially since you are so pretty."

I didn't mean it as a pick-up line, but her cheeks reddened a lot. "Aw, thanks... you're really pretty too!"

We kept talking about anything and everything, getting to know each other better. I already knew some stuff from our previous conversations, but this time she told me more about her private life. I discovered she had moved from Chicago because her father had lost his job there and managed to get hired as a street cleaner here in New York. She also told me her mother had died of cancer when she was 16, but she had learned how to be strong for her dad.

I couldn't take my eyes off her. Everything about her was addicting: how she slightly tightened her lips while she listened to me, the subtle moves of her eyebrows when she spoke, the way her eyes lit up when she laughed at one of my silly jokes. And her smile made me melt every time.

Unfortunately, all great things must come to an end.

"Hey, I think it's time for me to head back home." Brittany told me at some point. We had been sitting in the bar for two hours, but I still felt like it was too soon for her to leave.

"Oh... my friend Quinn will come and pick me up, do you want a ride home? She'll be here in fifteen minutes or so."

"Thank you so much, but I can't really stay any longer, my dad will be pissed if I get home too late."

"Okay, as you want" I said, trying to hide my disappointment. I stood up as she did, even if I wasn't leaving the place with her. When she took her wallet from her purse, I immediately stopped her.

"Don't worry, it's on me, Tina already put it on my bill."

"San, you don't have to..."

"I said don't worry Britt." I repeated, smiling.

_What's with the nicknames? Jeez._

"Well, then thank you so much. For everything, actually. I had a great time today! I wasn't really sure cause I am a shy mess, but I'm so happy I decided to come." And with that she stepped forward and put her arms around my shoulders, hugging me. I hugged her back, very aware of her sweet scent and her cheek brushing against mine. She pulled back way too soon for my liking.

"Before you go, can I give you my number? So if you wanna hang out again, you can just send me a text." I asked hopeful. Smiling brightly, she handed me her phone and I quickly typed my cell number on it.

"I will! See you soon, San!". Before I knew it she was out of the door.

I immediately texted Quinn.

**\- No catfish, Brittany is real. She's even better than I thought. Smart, funny, sweet. AND SO FREAKING GORGEOUS.**

I got her answer in less than a minute.

**\- Glad to hear that. Gorgeous huh?** **Don't tell me you already got it bad.**

-** How long does it take to develop a crush on somebody?**

**\- THAT bad? I'll be there ASAP.**

And as I was about to pull my phone away, It buzzed again.

**-Now you have mine too...bye Saaaaan :3**

I had officially just reached cloud ten.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm having a great time writing, so even if I've been pretty busy with university lately, I always try to take some time to write some stuff down... hope you guys will keep appreciating! Feedback is always welcome :-) **

"You've got to be kidding me".

"I swear Quinn, it's all true."

"Unbelievable. You're one lucky bastard, Lopez."

We were having dinner and I had just finished telling Quinn everything about Brittany: how we had already met before, how we had spent the whole afternoon chatting and laughing, how awesome she was, and beautiful, and her smile made me swoon, and that duck on her sweatshirt was just so cute, and God she smelled so good, and what about her pink lips, and her blue eyes, and her long slender legs, I just...

"There's only one problem. She's straight."

"How do you know?" Quinn asked.

"Well, I mentioned I am a lesbian and she said that she's cool about it but she has never met one before."

"That doesn't mean anything. "

"It does!" It seemed pretty obvious to me."She also mentioned a guy she had back in Chicago."

"So she's in a long distance relationship?"

"No, she said they broke up cause she wasn't really into him. Listen," I told her before she could start talking again "I'd really like to believe that I have a shot with her. But weren't you the one who said I shouldn't get my hopes up if there is a huge chance to end up disappointed?"

"Yes, and my advice turned out to be utter bullshit since you actually met the girl of your dreams. You told me not to be negative and you were right, now I'm telling you the same thing."

"I don't know... Like, what am I supposed to do then? God, I sound like a fucking teenager..."

"Well, for now, I guess you should just keep hanging out with her as friends. And in the meanwhile you can carefully try to find out if she might be interested in something more?"

"I guess it makes sense. But this thing confuses me a lot..."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen her once and she just blew my mind. And not in the "I wanna bang her badly" way. I would really like to date her..."

Quinn kept looking at me, like she was expecting me to say something more. But I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Santana, come on...why would that be a problem?"

"Well, it's not, I've been thinking about it for a while... you know, getting into something more serious than random hookups."

"Then what is it? Don't tell me it's... you don't want to... you know..."

"No I don't?"

"... have sex with only one girl? Is that it?"

"What the hell... no! God, no... believe me, if I could have her I don't think I would need anybody else, like ever again. With a body like that I could come up with so many ideas..."

The thought of having Brittany in _that _way made my stomach do backflips.

Quinn slapped my shoulder. "Why do you always have to end up being a perv? Just five minutes ago you were all about how cute and perfect she is."

"That's the point Quinn! It's all mixed up in my head... one second I'm dreaming about holding her hand while puking rainbows, then I come up with all those wanky thoughts, and then I feel guilty about it cause she's so delicate and sweet and I would ruin it by being dirty, but then again it's even worse because she's so fucking sexy without even trying, she had a freaking duck on her sweatshirt and still managed to look hot, but damn that was also so adorable and... "

"Okay okay, gosh, you're giving me a headache. Look, I am not sure I can really figure out what is going on inside of that fucked up brain of yours, but I am pretty sure the best thing you can do is stick around her and just go with the flow."

I looked at my hands in my resting on my lap."Yeah, you're right. And thank you, really. I know I am being a pain in the ass lately" I told her. I honestly appreciated how Quinn was always there to give me advice, no matter what.

"Lately?" She said playfully, and I couldn't help but laugh along with her.

She outstretched her arms, and I gladly hugged my best friend. I mentally cursed myself for the thought that crossed my mind.

_Brittany's hug was so much better._

* * *

Monday came and went by without a single word exchanged with Brittany. Not because I didn't want to see her or talk to her, but because I had figured that if I wanted to be able to stick around her I had to keep myself from being needy and play it cool, and in my head that meant waiting for her to text me first. Unfortunately Quinn had been busy with Puck all day long, so she hadn't been there to slap some sense back into my stupid mind.

My determination about sticking to the plan started to crumble on Tuesday morning. Everybody at work kept sending me weird looks as I pulled out my phone at any free moment, only to stare at it for a few minutes and then put it back in my pocket without having typed a single word.

By mid-afternoon I started to feel so stupid that I just decided to throw my plan out of the window and go to the grocery store, hoping to find Brittany. I thought about texting her first, but I changed my mind when I realized it was the perfect chance to see her and make it look like a casual thing.

_You know, I needed some milk and eggs and I just thought I could stop by and say hi._

That sounded pretty good in my head, so when I entered the store fifteen minutes later I felt pretty confident. I started throwing random stuff in the cart, just to make it look like I was really doing the groceries; our fridge was always nearly empty, so I was pretty sure most of those things were gonna be useful anyway. In the meanwhile, I kept glancing around in the hope of spotting a head of blonde hair. I probably wasn't being as subtle as I thought, because I was suddenly startled by a soft voice.

"Excuse me, are you looking for something?"

I turned around to see a young guy looking at me with a polite smile. He was so pale that his skin seemed to be made of porcelain, and even if he was wearing his clerk uniform, his shiny black boots and his flawless hairdo made him look pretty stylish.

"Yeah... uhm ... I was looking for the milk. I usually take it from back there but the shelf is empty". I instantly felt pretty pleased about how quickly I had figured out a convincing answer.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, my coworker should come refilling it in a second. Wait..." he took a few steps backwards until he reached the end of the aisle and looked to his left. "Britt, everything okay? Do you need help?"

"I got it, thanks!" I heard a familiar voice answer, and after a few seconds Brittany came to sight, holding a box full of bottles of milk. The corners of my mouth immediately turned upwards.

"Hey, you." I said to get her attention. She turned her head in my direction and as soon as she recognized me, she smiled back.

"Heyyyy, what are you doing here?" she asked, and before I could answer she had already put the box on the ground and enveloped me in a hug. For unknown reason, I noticed how she had thrown her arms over my shoulders just like the last time, probably because that worked out better with her being taller than me; not that I was complaining anyway, because that way I got to encircle her waist with my arms which felt awesome; she was only wearing a t-shirt and I could feel her ribs under my fingertips, I wondered what it would feel like to slip my hands under the thin fabric and...

_OH GOD. DON'T GO THERE, DON'T GO THERE, DON'T GO THERE. _

_Rainbows Lopez, just focus on the rainbows. Rainbows are good._

"I needed some stuff and I thought you might be working today so I just decided to stop by." I said as she set me free from the hug and took a step back.

"Yeah, I am here until seven, I am so glad tomorrow is my day off. Oh, this is Kurt by the way" she said, and the stylish dude stepped forward with his hand outstretched. " I'm Santana, nice to meet you" I told him, shaking his hand and sending him a smile.

"Oh, I see..."

He was shamelessly staring at me, and if Brittany hadn't told me he was gay I could have swore he was checking me out. Normally I would have asked him if he wanted a picture or something, but since he was Brittany's friend I just ignored his glancing and focused my attention on her.

"Well, I am free tomorrow afternoon, maybe we could do something together?"

"That... that would be great!" she said excitedly, and I could see her pale cheeks turn slightly red. Her smile was so big, and knowing I had caused it really warmed my heart.

"If you tell me where you live, I'll come pick you up at... let's say 3 P.M. again?

"Sure, you just have to keep going down this road until you reach the traffic light. Once you're there, turn left and you'll see my building on the right side of the road, the one with the red door and the fire escape. But I'll wait outside, just in case..."

I really hoped I would remember what she had just told me, because at that moment I was much more focused on how adorably shy she looked than on the indications she was giving me.

"Awesome! So, I'll let you guys work now, see you tomorrow Britt! And nice to meet you again, Kurt."

"Same for me, Santana."

"Bye San!"

I waved at her one last time before walking out of her sight.

"You got this, hell yeah..." I muttered to myself, with a big grin that I kept until I got home.

* * *

"You don't need the car today right?"

"Hello to you, and everything's great, thanks for asking."

"Quinn, cut the crap, I am going out with Britt and I really need it!"

I was on the phone with her; she had been spending the last couple of days at her boyfriend's house so I hadn't had the chance to ask her about the car yet. We had bought it in common two years before, when we had realized public transportation wasn't always the ideal choice and we had grown tired of spending way too much money on cabs. I went to Schuester's by bus and she reached her workplace with the subway, but we used the car when we went out at night or if we were in a hurry. Sharing it wasn't always easy, but still so much better than not having it at all.

"Woah, in that case... I was thinking about staying here until tomorrow anyway, so take it for as much as you want."

"Perfect! Say hi to the moron with the mohawk!"

"Have a nice time, idiot" she said before hanging up.

Everything was turning out just fine, so I couldn't help but do one of my fist pumps in the air. Which of course didn't go unnoticed by Tina, who was cleaning the counter just beside me.

"It's morning and you're not grumpy... What's with the sudden happiness?"

"Oh you know, I am seeing Brittany again this afternoon."

"So are you two dating?"

"No, I kinda need to figure out some stuff first, so for now I am keeping it friendly... but I hope we'll get there."

"Aw, aren't you cute?"

"No, I am just hot and charming" I answered, and we both laughed in unison before going back to our working routine. Today my shift seemed much more bearable, but I still felt like time was going two times slower than usual; I just couldn't wait to take off my apron and get home, only to hop in the car and drive to Brittany's house.

At some point during the morning I got a text that made my impatience grow even more.

**\- ...just making sure you haven't forgotten about me. Can't wait :3**

**\- Nah, never. I "pinky promise that" ;-). And I can't wait either.**

**\- Aw, San :3**

"Tinaaaa, how do I take a screenshot?"


	8. Chapter 8

**So, after the wedding episode I felt the urge to unleash some Brittana feels, so here's the next chapter! Once again, thank you all for the kind words, lots of love to everyone who is reviewing, following or even sharing the story, it really means a lot :3**

The green light finally appeared, so I stopped my tapping on the wheel and turned left; as soon as I did, I spotted Brittany standing on the sidewalk only a few feet ahead. I pulled the car to the side and watched as she sent me a small wave before stepping forward and opening the door.

"Britt, you didn't have to wait outside, you were probably freezing!" I told her as soon as she got in.

"I know, I just needed some fresh air... my dad has been in a bad mood since he came home from work..." she said in a small voice. I was a bit concerned about her tone.

"Oh... is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just... he mostly works at night, and it's very tiring. He'll be fine after getting some sleep." She smiled at me and I felt reassured. "So, where are we going?"

"Well" I said pulling back onto the road "I originally thought about going for a walk somewhere, but I didn't expect the weather to be so cold... so maybe we could go to a bar and drink some hot chocolate instead, or go to the cinema, or..."

"Cinema would be awesome! I haven't been there in ages!"

"Sounds good to me. Do you have a movie in mind? I don't really know what's on these days."

"Uhm... no..." I took a quick glance sideways and noticed she was biting her lip, like she was trying to keep herself from saying something.

"Yes, you do."

"What? I don't, really..." She puffed slightly." You'd laugh at me".

"You know I won't Britt-Britt." I immediately regretted calling her like that, because it totally felt like overstepping boundaries, but apparently it worked its magic. She smiled shyly before saying "Okay... well, there's this cinema where they are currently doing reruns of Hercules, you know the Disney one, and I know it's really really lame but I am still so into Disney stuff, but it's just a silly thought cause I don't want you to be forced to go through a whole..."

"Deal. Where's the cinema?" I quickly cut her rambling speech.

"...what?"

"I don't know where this cinema is, you gotta show me the road."

"San, don't make fun of me... Do you really wanna go?"

"Are you kidding me? It's my favorite animated movie of all times. I'll tell you, Meg was probably my first girl crush. But I gotta warn you, whenever I watch stuff I already saw before, I can't keep myself from spitting out random comments all the time. Quinn hates me for that."

Ok, maybe I had exaggerated a bit about the favorite movie thing, but I didn't really mind seeing it. Especially not if it meant making Brittany happy, and by the look that had just appeared on her face, I knew she was.

"Well... I usually sing along all the songs, so I have no problem with your comments as long as you don't have a problem with my singing...?"

My answer came with a goofy grin. "We're in for a fun day, Britt."

* * *

Twenty minutes later we were walking into the cinema and heading towards the ticket booth. The woman behind the glass handed me our tickets and I paid for both of them before Brittany could take her money. Of course she immediately complained about it.

"Saaaaan you can't pay this time too! I chose the movie, and we got here with your car, I should pay for our tickets!"

"It's no big deal... I just gave that woman the money without thinking about it." I told her while motioning to enter the theater. I didn't really want her to figure it out, but I had good reasons to think her economic situation wasn't that great. She had just started working in a place that probably didn't provide her a great paycheck, and I remembered she had told me how much she needed to keep the job; plus, her dad apparently worked exhausting hours as a street cleaner, which wasn't the best paid job either. I wasn't swimming in a sea of gold, but I earned enough money to live rather comfortably; it just didn't feel right to let her pay.

"Uff... Can I at least offer you something to drink? And we'll share some pop-corn."

"Okay, okay. I'll take a coke, thanks" I said, thinking I could accept that offer after all.

Once we had bought food and drinks, we went to look for our sits. Of course, most of the crowd was made of children, but I spotted a couple that was around our age, probably just nostalgic as Brittany and I were. Or maybe, one of them was nostalgic and the other one was just very whipped; that was probably closer to our case. Not that we were a couple, anyway.

"Here, eat some" Brittany said, putting the pop-corn between our seats. In that moment I swore to myself I was gonna be really careful whenever I reached for it; I wanted to avoid the "ops-we-reached-at-the-same-time-and-now-we-are-holding-hands" situation at all costs. As far as I knew, my crush was totally one-sided, and since Brittany had the ability to turn me into an awkward mess, I was sure if that happened I wasn't gonna be able to brush it off without getting embarrassed and ruining the whole day.

During the time we were sitting in the theater, however, I realized that despite being one of the shyest people I had ever met, Brittany was a very "physical" person. We occasionally made small talk and she repeatedly brushed her fingers on my arm while stating this or that thing, grabbing it lightly to get my attention from time to time. When "Zero to Hero" started playing, she grabbed my wrist and held my hand in front of her, pretending to use it as a microphone while lip-synching. I had to keep myself from laughing too loud, but my laugh died soon when she put my arm back down on the armrest but didn't let go of my wrist. I couldn't make out what the characters were saying anymore, I was too focused on feeling the warmth of her hand on my skin, her thumb resting lightly on the back of my hand. I carefully took a look at her, only to see she was completely into the movie and seemed unfazed by the contact, or even unaware of it.

After ten minutes she let go, much to my disappointment.

When the credits appeared on the screen I saw her turn around and look at me.

"This was awesome" she said, then she wrapped one arm around my bicep while her hand fell back on my wrist again. She was basically hugging my left arm. "I am so happy we came here, thank you so much!".

I struggled to find my voice, both because of the contact and the fact that her face was really close to mine.

_Answer instead of staring, you'll look like a fucking creep._

"Thank you, actually, I hadn't realized how much I had missed this movie."

"I know right? Come on, let's get out of here" she told me after letting go of my arm again. She patted on my thigh and stood up.

Before following her, I took my coke and swallowed what was left of it with one big gulp. We then headed out, and I was literally craving for some fresh air.

* * *

After a ride filled with more giggling and even some more singing, I stopped the car right in front of her building and thought I didn't really want the afternoon to be over yet. After we had stepped out of the cinema, I had suggested we could go eat something, but Brittany had told me she really needed to go home, so I hadn't insisted. I just hoped I wasn't looking like a kicked puppy, because at that moment I kinda felt like one.

"I really had fun, San! Hope I'll see you soon" she said and reached for the door handle; I nearly felt disappointed when I realized she wasn't gonna hug me, but I quickly got over it when I remembered about something I wanted to ask her.

"Wait, Britt, before you go I... uhm... so tomorrow night I am going out with some friends, no big deal, we're just going to a pub and have a couple of drinks... wanna come?"

_Congratulations Lopez, you just asked that in the worst way possible._

"Oh..."

"Yeah, you know, I'd really like you to meet them... And I promise it will be fun!" I totally sounded like I was pleading, but I couldn't help it; she didn't seem to be thrilled about the idea.

"I don't know, I mean... I'm not good with people, especially if I don't know them at all..."

"You could bring Kurt with you? So you know somebody other than me."

"I guess... he's much better than me at socializing..."

I was basically holding my breath at that point.

She paused a second before speaking again. "And you're gonna be there all night, right?"

"Absolutely. I'll be your shadow, you'll end up wanting to get rid of me."

She laughed and I could breathe again.

"Uhm... okay then."

"Great!" This time I was the one who started the hug, reaching for her waist and pulling her close. She immediately hugged back though, so I took it as a sign I wasn't breaking some kind of silent rule between us. The words that she then whispered into my ear made my heart swell inside of my chest.

"I will never want to get rid of you. Never ever."

* * *

"Of course it's okay. It's actually a great idea."

That evening I was on the phone with Quinn again; even if she was gonna come home the next day, I couldn't really wait til then to tell her everything about the previous afternoon and especially that I had invited Brittany to join our gathering.

"I hope she doesn't change her mind about it. And I need to warn everybody not to freak her out because she's really shy. It took me a while to convince her to come, I don't want to see my work being thrown out of the window by some crazy Berry drama or... one of those awful impressions by Sam... or whatever."

"It's gonna be fine, chill. I'll talk to them, you just worry about your girl."

"My girl..." I repeated, just to try and see how it sounded. Well, it was freaking awesome.

"Have you found out something more about her? I mean..."

"If she might like me? No, not really. But I do know she trusts me, and that feeling alone is absolutely great."

"I honestly can't wait to meet her, from what you told me she is basically an angel walking on Earth."

I wanted to say that she probably was, but that sounded way too cheesy.

"You're gonna like her, I'm sure. It simply can't be otherwise, she's too adorable." I told her, and in that moment a thought crossed my mind.

"Quinn... our male friends all have girlfriends, right?"

"You mean those who are coming tomorrow? Noah, Sam, Mike... yes, they all have one. " When she heard me sigh in relief, she let out a small laugh. " Hey, even if they didn't, I'm pretty sure they would know that if you bring a girl along, she's off limits. Nobody enjoys messing with you."

"You're right... if they don't behave, Snixx is gonna show 'em how to." I answered with a smirk.

"So you're already jealous about her?"

"Ugh... don't remind me. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you, Santana. Actually, it's the first time in a while you're doing it right."

* * *

**P.S.: Hercules actually IS my favorite animated movie of all times.**


	9. Chapter 9

**My favorite chapter so far. I hope yours as well.**

That afternoon I was working with Rachel and Sam, and the bar was pretty calm as usual. I was refilling the fridge behind the counter when they both appeared beside me and started staring at me with a grin that was probably supposed to look friendly, but was actually kinda creepy.

"... yes?" I asked looking back at them.

"Quinn told us your FRIEND Brittany is joining us tonight! We are so excited!" Rachel immediately blurted out.

_I should have seen this coming._

"Did she also tell you that if you guys don't behave I'm gonna kick your sorry asses?"

"Hey, don't worry. We know the situation, we'll be the sweetest with her, really..." Sam started, but I interrupted him.

"What do you mean? What situation?"

"Uhm... you have this huge crush on her so we have to be very nice?" he continued, and as soon as he had finished the sentence Rachel slapped his shoulder. "Sam! You weren't supposed to say that!"

"But Quinn said..."

"Hold up, so Quinn is going around telling everybody about my stuff?" I asked, a mixture of anger and embarrassment making my blood boil.

"Well..." Rachel carefully began "only to those who are coming with us tonight..."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

I was sure my face had turned a dark shade of red by that time.

"Santana, we think it's totally adorable that you want to make a good impression and..."

"You know what? Just cut the crap right now and spare me from this talk, ok?"

"Okay, okay, but we just wanted to tell you that..."

"RACHEL!"

"I think we should go back to work now" Sam immediately said, lightly pushing Rachel towards the kitchen. They both disappeared behind the door, leaving me there with my brows furrowed and my cheeks on fire.

I reached for my phone and sent an angry text to my roommate.

**-Did you really have to tell everybody about my, quoting Sam, "huge crush"? HUGE? REALLY?**

Quinn answered in a matter of seconds.

**\- Like you're not gonna make it obvious anyway... You're jelly when she texts you, when you're with her it's probably 10 times worse. At least now you're sure they won't mess it up.**

**\- Or they're gonna try to help and end up embarrassing me. **

**\- Our friends are nice. Brittany will have a good time, I'm sure.**

I put my phone down. I was still a little pissed, but Quinn's words had reassured me. My friends were probably weird, but also very kind-hearted, and judging by what I had seen with Sam and Rachel, they seemed genuinely happy that Brittany was joining us.

I resumed filling the fridge and as soon as the job was done, I heard the sound of my ringtone, so I hurried to reach for my phone because I was supposed to at least put it on vibrate during my shifts.

Brittany was calling me.

_Please don't tell me you've changed your mind, PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU'VE CHANGED YOUR MIND._

"Hey Britt?"

"Hey, is it a bad moment?"

"Of course not. Everything ok?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you that Kurt is in for tonight... and ask you when and where we can meet up?"

_Thank. God._

"Oh, great! And you're right..The guys are coming here at Schuester's around 9 and we're heading out together. Sounds good?"

"Uhm, actually I hoped it would be a little bit later, I have... stuff to do before..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have told you sooner..." I was feeling so freaking stupid.

"It's okay, maybe we can join you at the pub a little later? I guess we could make it between 9.30 and 10 P.M..."

"Of course!" I immediately answered "the place is called "The 51", you know how to get there?"

"Not really, but wait, I'll ask Kurt... " I heard her muffled voice calling him and asking him about the place, going back to speak at the phone a few seconds later." He's been there before, so we're good!"

"Ok, perfect!"

"San... before you go I wanted to ask you another thing."

"Sure?"

"So, this morning I was on Facebook and I thought I wanted to add you there, but I realized that I don't know your surname... you don't think it's creepy if I ask you for it, do you?"

I let out a laugh, before saying "Lopez, Santana Lopez. And it's not creepy, I don't know why I didn't tell you sooner!"

"It's ok..." I heard the hint of a giggle in her voice, and as usual I melted a little bit on the inside.

"Do I have to wait til you add me before finding out yours?" I asked playfully.

"Mmm I guess so... See you tonight, Santana LLLooooopezzz..."

That sent a shiver through my whole body, and I gulped.

"Can't wait, Britt..." I answered in a dreamy voice, not even doing much to hide it.

She hung up, and I found myself staring absentmindedly at the phone in my hands. That only lasted a few seconds, however, because I got a Facebook notification. Brittany S. Pierce had requested to add me as a friend.

_Pierce. Brittany S. Pierce. I wonder what that "S" stands for._

Of course, I quickly went to accept the request and before I could go take a look at her timeline, I got a second notification telling me she had written something on mine.

No words, just three little hearts. This girl, she was really doing things to me.

But before my brain could even start processing any kind of sweet thought about it, that same post was literally assaulted by my friends.

_**Quinn Fabray, Tina Cohen-Chang, Noah Puckerman and other 2 friends liked a post on your wall.**_

I swung the door of the kitchen open to find the "other 2 friends" holding their phone in their hands and giggling. Before they could even raise their head I was already yelling.

"I SAID CUT CHE CRAP!"

* * *

I was sitting at a table with Sam and Rachel, finishing the last bites of our dinner. Our shift had ended nearly an hour ago, so we were waiting for our friends to show up at the bar. I thought it was a shame that I had no time to go home and change my clothes, but that afternoon I had managed to find an attire that was comfortable enough to work but also decent for a night out. The place we were going to was pretty casual anyway, and I was sure that the pair of skinny jeans I was wearing was already enough to make me look hotter than anybody.

The first to arrive were Puck and Quinn. "What's up people?" Noah said cheerfully, and they both sat down at the table with us. He immediately started a conversation with Sam about some awesome sports car somebody had brought to his garage to get fixed that day.

"So, ready for the night Lopez?" Quinn asked.

"Don't talk to me, I'm still mad at you."

Quinn smiled and looked at Rachel knowingly. "You'll see, she'll just lit up in a while."

I rolled my eyes and didn't even bother answering, both because I was pretty annoyed and because I knew Quinn was right, even if I hated to admit that.

Ten minutes later we were joined by Tina and her boyfriend Mike, quickly followed by Sam's girlfriend Mercedes. We went out and headed to our cars, ready to go to The 51; I followed Quinn and Puck and hopped in the backseat of our car. I thought it was funny that most of the times they went out together she was the one driving, but she always said that, despite being a garage owner, her boyfriend was a terrible driver, so he had ended up letting her take the car nearly all the time just to avoid any more fighting. He was so whipped.

Once we were inside the pub and settled around a table, I pulled out my phone and texted Brittany, letting her know we were there.

\- **Ok, I think we'll reach you in 30 mins, text you when we're there!**

I thought they were gonna be some crazy long thirty minutes, so I grabbed Tina and Quinn by their elbows and headed to the bar, thinking some shots could help me pass the time. I had no intention on getting drunk, though, because I wanted to be very aware of Brittany's presence all throughout the night.

It was around a quarter to ten when I got another text from Brittany, saying that Kurt and her had just put down their coats and were waiting at the entrance. I quickly told my friends I was gonna go get them and left the table, barely containing my excitement.

When I finally spotted them, I was once again taken aback by how beautiful Brittany looked. She was wearing a tight blue dress that stopped around mid thigh, finally allowing me to fully appreciate her perfectly toned legs. Her straight blonde hair fell loosely on her shoulders, which were covered with a small white shrug that matched the color of her pumps. I was glad I had took time to change my shoes and wear heels, because if I hadn't done that I would have looked really tiny beside her.

"You look amazing Britt!" I said even before greeting them.

"Aw, thanks... Kurt helped me out, he's really good with this kind of stuff."

"Yes, I am. Hi Santana, nice to see you again and thanks for inviting me!" he said, and I thought he seemed nicer than the last time we had met. I took it as a good sign for the night to come.

" Glad you both made it." I replied with a smile. "Come on, let's go sit down." Feeling bold, I put my hand on the small of Brittany's back and started guiding her through the crowd towards our table, Kurt following us. She didn't seem to be startled by the contact, probably because she didn't generally put much thought in the whole touching thing, as I had learned that day at the cinema.

We finally reached the others. When they saw us approaching, they stopped their conversations and looked at us with big smiles that I really tried to ignore. "Guys, this is Brittany, and this is her friend Kurt."

They all waved to each other and my friends introduced themselves one by one. As Brittany and Kurt were about to sit down, Quinn mouthed "she's really pretty" at me with a surprised look on her face. I mouthed back a "told you" before quickly sitting down beside Brittany. Before I knew it, everyone was back into their casual conversations, and Kurt and Rachel had already started talking about some Broadway stuff. I wondered if that guy could be any gayer. At least Rachel had a pal now.

"So, are they all couples?" I heard Brittany whisper in my ear.

"Mostly, yes... Quinn and Puck, Sam and Mercedes, Tina and Mike are all together."

"Gotcha" she said with a smile. I realized my hand was resting on her back again, but the small amount of alcohol in my blood told me it was ok to leave it there, so I did.

"So, Brittany, Santana told me you like to dance?" Mike asked, and I was glad he was trying to start a conversation. He was definitely one of the nicest people at that table, along with Tina.

"Oh, yes, I've been taking lessons since I was six. When I was around eighteen I started practicing by myself, but I had to stop when I moved to New York... I can't really afford paying for a room in a studio..."

"I own a small studio downtown. And there is a spare room I haven't used in ages. You could come and practice there? "

"Oh wow, Mike, I don't know..."

"For free of course, you could just help me clean it up and get rid of some stuff."

"That would be so awesome! I can totally help with anything! But are you sure? I mean, you could find other people who can pay for it..."

"Nah, I'm not interested in that. I've been wanting to fix the mess in there for ages, if you'll give me a hand, we have a deal."

Seeing the happiness literally pour out of Brittany's eyes made me want to hug the crap out of Mike, but instead I just sent him a big, grateful smile. Once he had given her his number and the address of the studio, we started talking and laughing about this and that with him and Tina, occasionally ordering drinks and exchanging words with everyone else.

Halfway through the night, my hand had found its way to Brittany's hip, so I basically had my arm boldly wrapped around her. She didn't seem to mind at all; she had been giving me her usual light touches all night, but one particular gesture surprised me. At one point, I felt her hand rest on my thigh, her index finger drawing small circles on the fabric of my jeans. When I looked her way, she kept her gaze on whoever was talking at that moment, but by the shy smile that lingered on her lips I could tell she was aware of what she was doing. I looked back at my friends, not really paying attention to anything but the warmth of her palm and the soft tickling on my leg.

* * *

When Quinn had announced she needed to use the restroom, Brittany had followed her, so I was sitting alone when Kurt approached me. I smiled lightly at him, knowing what was about to come.

"So... I wanted to talk to you about something" he started.

"Sure."

"Brittany told me about you. That you're gay I mean."

"...yes?"

"And I just wanted to... I don't know if there is a right way to approach this, so I'll keep it simple. I see how you look at her, I can totally tell you like her."

"Well, that was pretty forward but... yeah, I do. But Kurt" I quickly added "please don't think I'm just trying to get in her pants or something, okay, because I'm not. I really enjoy spending time with her, and I wanna be her friend before anything. From what I know, she's straight, so if that's all I can be for her, I will."

"About that... you may not be very subtle, but she's not either. She literally talks about you all the time, and I've never seen her being happier than tonight. Plus, she hasn't left your side all night... "

My heart skipped a beat. Did he really mean that...?

"Listen, Santana. I don't know Brittany well enough to say if you could be more than a friend to her or not. But I do know that you're a positive presence in her life. She's been through a lot, probably much more than we both know, and I think that's why she's so shy and guarded. I know you genuinely care about her, and that's why I think being with you is good for her. So whatever happens between you two, please, just make sure you don't hurt her or let her down, because I don't know how she could cope with that."

"I won't Kurt. I promise." I told him, meaning it with all my heart.

"I trust you." He said, and went back to sit down with Rachel and Mercedes. In that moment, I saw Quinn and Brittany walking back together towards the table.

"We were thinking about calling it a night" Quinn said, looking at me. "I told Brittany we'll give her a lift home, since we live so close."

"Sure" I answered "Let's go home, I'm feeling sleepy."

Kurt stood up and told Brittany he was gonna stay a bit longer before giving her a kiss on the cheek. Apparently he was having a blast with the girls. I was glad about it.

Puck stood up too, and we all waved the others goodbye before heading out of the pub and hopping into the car. Quinn took the road towards our apartment, which meant Puck was gonna spend the night there. Not even the thought of having his dumb mohawk around the house the next morning could pull me out of my good mood, which had everything to do with the beautiful blonde sitting with me in the backseat.

"Hey, Quinn, just park the car in the first spot you find, I'll walk home. I feel a bit dizzy for the drinks, I need some fresh air" Brittany said when we were nearly home.

"Oh, okay, I'll park here then" Quinn said. She shut off the car and we all got out.

"You guys go upstairs, I'll walk Brittany home" I quickly said. Puck and Quinn both waved Brittany goodbye and crossed the road, and I was left alone with the blonde.

We started walking towards her house in comfortable silence. An idea suddenly crossed my mind.

Before I could chicken out, I reached for her hand. I mentally thanked the whole universe when I felt her fingers easily slip in between mine. It felt so awesome. So right. I let myself drown into that feeling.

When we arrived at her doorstep, she let go of my hand and pulled me in for a hug. It didn't take me by surprise, but I still thought I was never gonna get completely used to it.

"I had the best time ever" she said in a soft voice.

"It's all I wanted, really." I told her. I noticed she was shivering, so I started slowly rubbing my hands on her arms and her back. We stayed like that for a while, but after a few minutes I felt her slowly pull away.

She stood in front of me smiling brightly, and I thought she had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

"Goodnight, San."

I saw her hesitating for a second, before leaning forward and quickly kissing my cheek. She then disappeared behind the door just as quickly.

I could feel the cold winter air hitting the spot where her lips had been just a moment ago.

"Goodnight, beautiful."


	10. Chapter 10

**Soooo my exams are finally over, which means I don't have to stay up until 2 A.M. just to finish a chapter... I hope this will help improve the quality of the story! As usual, tons of love to you all and keep up with the feedback 3**

I was in bed, laying on my back and staring at the ceiling. I had no idea of how long I had been staying in that position and I really didn't care about how late it was. All my thoughts were focused on _ her_.

_Brittany..._

My mind literally refused to go in any other direction.

I could still feel my cheek tingling from the kiss she had given to me not long ago. But also, I kept replaying Kurt's words in my head... Did she really talk about me all the time? He had no reason to lie about that. And anyway I wasn't sure if that could mean anything at all; maybe she was just excited because she had found a new friend to hang out with, since she didn't really have any (except from a gay guy).

Her closeness, her touches, her smiles and her whispers were really just meant to be friendly, though? Did she really kiss me goodnight as Kurt had kissed her before?

That was the core of all my doubts.

To me, it felt like we were constantly walking on this thin line that separated a genuine friendship from a possible mutual interest, a line that we couldn't just keep walking on forever. I knew that sooner or later I had to put my foot down on one of those two sides. My obvious crush told me to choose one, my fear of losing a wonderful person pushed me towards the other. Plus, I had no clue on what direction Brittany was looking at, so I had to decide by myself on where to aim my first step.

_She's STRAIGHT, Santana. The only step you can make is a step back. _

_Wait, no .It's not that simple, or you wouldn't be thinking about all of this in the first place. Stop repeating the "she's very friendly" lie to yourself. You know it can't be just that. Come on, you and her met because you decided to leave your doubts and insecurities behind, why can't you do that again?_

_No way. You can't just go for it this time. It's so much more than a text to a stranger. It's a huge leap into the unknown, and you have a lot to lose. _

I puffed loudly. I took a look at the alarm clock and saw it was already 3.30 P.M.. I just needed a way to stop thinking and distract myself enough to be able to fall asleep, so I grabbed my phone and opened Twitter. My timeline was almost dead, so I closed the app after a couple of quick scrolls. I hadn't been in the mood to write any of my hilarious tweets in a while.

I opened Facebook hoping for more luck and a realization suddenly hit me. I still needed to check Brittany's timeline on there. I had completely forgotten to do that after yelling at Sam and Rachel that afternoon. I quickly typed her name and went on her page.

Ok, maybe it wasn't the best thing to do if my aim was actually to stop thinking about her, but in the last few days I had learned that nothing could soothe me more than Brittany's bright smile, so I figured it wasn't a bad idea either. Plus, I needed to free my mind from the mess of my current situation, not necessarily from her.

I had already noticed she actually appeared in her profile picture, unlike on Twitter. I tapped on it to take a better look; it was a cute selfie with the same fat cat I had already seen on her other social network page, only he had no cowboy hat on this time.

She was in a few other pictures, that I thought were mostly from high school days since she looked so much younger. I looked at all of them until I reached the last one, where she was hugging a blonde woman who seemed to be her exact replica, only older and with brown eyes. It was definitely her mom. They had the exact same smile, and I could feel the happiness pouring out of the picture. Judging by the date on which the picture had been posted, it had been taken not long before Brittany's mother had died.

I put my phone down on the bedside table and settled my stare back on the ceiling. I thought of how hard it had definitely been for Brittany to lose her mother when she was only 16; I remembered how much I had relied on my mom's support when I was that age and I was finally coming to terms with my sexuality. Both my parents had been very understanding and supportive, but she had been there to hold me and reassure me every time I came home in tears because of somebody's harsh words or whenever I felt wrong for liking some girl who was never gonna like me back. If I was finally at peace with myself, it was only because I had been able to share all my pain and my insecurities with her over the years.

All of this had been denied to Brittany. She had been forced to grow up before time and help her father dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death. Maybe that was the reason behind her uncertainty and lack of confidence: having had to push her teenage insecurities aside to deal with bigger priorities meant she never really had the chance to get over them.

I rolled on my side and closed my eyes. I had no right to assume things about her, especially since I still didn't know anything about her.

One thing I knew, though, was that my presence in her life managed to make her happy, and I felt absolutely bewildered and honoured about being able to do that. And even if I still had no clue on where this thing with her was headed, I was completely sure that I was always gonna do my best to keep doing just that.

Having found some more peaceful thoughts to focus on, I felt myself finally dozing off.

_Happy Brittany is the perfect picture to fall asleep to..._

* * *

I woke up at 10, my head pounding from the weird hours of sleep. I groggily got out of bed and entered the bathroom, then splashed some water on my face to wash away the tiredness. I came back to my room, put on some sweatpants and a tank top and headed into the kitchen. When I got closer to the living room I saw Puck sitting on the couch in his underwear, watching reruns of some old football match.

"Ugh, Puckerman, don't you have a t-shirt to wear?" I asked him as I walked into the kitchen.

"Worried this masterpiece is gonna make you straight?" he asked back playfully. "There's a pancake left for you anyway, Quinn made them before going to work" he added.

"Awesome" I said. I spotted it on a plate on the kitchen counter, grabbed it along with a fork and walked towards the living room.

"Actually I'm just worried that this" I told Puck, patting his belly before sitting beside him "is gonna make Quinn understand why I am a lesbian."

He just smiled at that. One thing I had always liked about Puck was that he could take jokes and he never took himself too seriously. He was five years older than me and Quinn, and they had been together for nearly four years; I knew she had always loved the feeling of safety he provided her. To me, he was like an older brother; very annoying at times, but trustworthy and reliable.

We sat in silence for a while before he spoke again.

"Hey, Lopez. 'Bout that Brittany chick you brought last night... Woah, man, great job. She's hot, she's funny, we're all crazy about her. Your big bro Puckster approves."

"Yeah, well... I'm glad, but there is nothing to approve. She's just a friend, a straight one."

"Pssshhhh, please. No way. She's totally into you. She hangs from your lips every time you open your mouth. And she's been glued to you all night, she would have crawled on your lap if you'd let her."

And so I had the picture of Brittany sitting in my lap glued to my mind.

"I wish you were right..."

"I am right. Her signals are pretty clear."

"Well... she did let me hold her hand when I walked her home..."

"SEE?" he nearly shouted, startling me. "Then go for it, damn'!"

"Calm your tits, Noah... Jeez..."

"I am sorry, but I don't want you to throw away this opportunity just because you're a pussy."

"Hey! I'm not. It's just really complicated, okay... "

"Listen. I'm a dude. I don't do complicated. And since you're kind of a dude too..."

I cringed at that, but I let him continue.

"...you shouldn't overthink stuff either, because it only helps you making up excuses to not give it a try. Do you think I was expecting Quinn to say yes when I first asked her out? She was this classy, beautiful woman, I was the guy with the dirty hands who had just fixed her car. And yet here we are, four years later, and I couldn't be happier."

I felt a smile forming on my lips. "You're mostly full of crap, but sometimes you can be pretty wise, you know?"

"Always here for my buddy with boobs. Come on, give me a hug."

"Not until you're half naked, dumbass" I told him, shoving a pillow in his open arms and standing up from the couch.

* * *

Friday and Saturday went by pretty smoothly, my usual routine sweetened by Brittany's texts from time to time. I had worked on the night shift both days, and once I had gotten home on Saturday night I had even sent her a good morning text for the following day in a sudden outburst of mushiness.

On Sunday I woke up around noon time. I quickly found out Quinn wasn't home and as I passed by the fridge I saw she had left a note, saying she had forgotten some papers at her office and she was gonna be back around 1 P.M.. I decided to skip breakfast and just wait for her to have lunch together.

I plopped down on the couch, legs crossed and phone in my hands. I scrolled through my contacts until I found Brittany's name and started my usual self-torture. I had kinda developed this belief that staring intently at it could make something happen. Because, of course, just growing some balls and giving her a call wasn't complicated enough for my very paranoid self.

After a short time, though, her incoming call appeared on the screen.

_WOAH, this shit works._

"Hola?"

"Woooo Spanish! Yay!"

"What's up, Britt?" I said with a smile.

"Nothing, just wanted to check on you. Texts are cool, but hearing your voice is better."

_Here she goes, messing with my head again._

"Well" I started " I guess you could hear even more of it this afternoon... We can go grab a hot chocolate maybe?"

"I'd love to, but I'm going to your friend Mike's studio today. He wanted to show me the room he wants to clean up and I also have to sign some papers... something related to the insurance, I think."

I remembered I still had to thank him properly for being so kind.

"Oh, that's great! And... uhm... I don't want to sound insisting but.. I could come pick you up when you're finished and we could go grab something to eat?"

"Aw, San, I wish I could, really... but I can't have dinner out because of... stuff..."

Was I being too forward? Because that sounded like a failed attempt to come up with an excuse to avoid me...

"Of course, no problem. Maybe another time." I said, hoping my voice wasn't showing all my disappointment.

"Now I feel like a horrible person..." she told me in a very small voice.

"Nah, Britt, it's totally fine. I've just... you know... kinda missed you these days..."

_Two days and you already miss her? And you're saying it out loud? To her? Way to go, Santana._

Her answer came with the cutest giggle ever heard in the history of giggles.

"I miss you too..."

I let out a dreamy sigh, unable to form a sentence.

"And San, your text this morning was the cutest thing ever..."

I blushed. "What can I say, I'm just too nice."

"That's true" she answered, the happy giggling still audible in her tone. "I gotta go now, I'll let you know about the studio thing with Mike!"

"Sure, bye Britt!"

"Byeeee!"

I put my phone down with a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Bitter, because I had really hoped to spend some time with Brittany that afternoon. Sweet because, well... Brittany.

* * *

"I love your big fat sandwiches, Fabray." I was half-laying on the couch, lazily patting on my full belly and watching tv.

"That sounded soooo nasty" Quinn answered laughing.

"And then I'm the one with a dirty mind..."

Quinn turned the page of her book, an eyebrow raised, but didn't reply. After ten minutes, she put it down and look at me.

"Are you gonna spend your whole free day home?"

"Nothing to do..." I mumbled.

"Is your favorite blonde busy?"

"Yeah, she's meeting Mike for that dancing thing. I'm happy for her but... I really wanted to see her..."

"You could join me and Puck later."

"To be the third wheel? No thanks..."

"Whatever, I was just trying to cheer the sad puppy up."

"Sometimes you really make me want to punch the crap out..."

I got interrupted by the buzzing of my phone. Text.

**\- ... is your offer about picking me up still valid? I'll pay for the food... *fingers crossed* **

"NEVERMIND" I basically shouted.

**-Absolutely! What time?**

"Quinn, I need the car."

"What? No, I have plans... I told you ages ago!"

"Just make Puck drive, Jeez... You won't die if you let him take his car once!"

"Fine. But I'm doing it for Brittany, not for you."

"Yeah, yeah, sure..."

**\- is 6.30 P.M. okay? And I am so so so so so happy rn :3**

**\- Perfect. See you in a while, happy Britt :P**

I raised my head to find Quinn staring at me. "What?" I asked, not even trying to hide my huge grin.

"She can tame the beast with only a couple of texts. Unbelievable."

My answer came in the form of a pillow flying in her direction.

* * *

**I know, short interaction and no big things in this chapter, but it had to be done... Brace yourselves for the next one. Just sayin' :-P**


	11. Chapter 11

**Guys, I'm friendly, I don't bite, so if you wanna have a couple of words or just tell me your opinions about the story in private, feel free to send me a message ;-)**

**Tough one, I hope it came out just fine. I'd say enjoy but... It might not be the appropriate word for this chapter. You'll see ;-)**

I was sitting on the hood of my car right outside Mike's studio, waiting for Brittany to come out of the building. I had felt so eager to get out of the house and finally be able to see her that I had left way too early, so at that moment it wasn't even 6.20 P.M. and I had already been there for over twenty minutes.

I was blankly staring at my shoes when the buzzing of my phone suddenly startled me.

**Britt:**

**Look up! **

I raised my stare only to find her looking at me through a window of the second floor of the building, her tongue sticking out. I laughed at her goofiness and sent her a small wave with my hand. She disappeared from my sight, only to reappear from the main door a few seconds later, her bright smile enlightening the surroundings.

_Every day she looks more beautiful._

"Miss" I said, opening the door for her "your chariot awaits."

She happily climbed into the car, still smiling profusely, and once I had closed her door, I quickly reached the driver's seat.

"Oh, before I forget it, Mike says hi. He wanted to come out and say it himself, but he's still got some stuff to take care of... sending out e-mails and looking for some papers, I think. "Brittany told me.

"It's okay, I'll send him a text later. So, how did it go?" I asked, starting the car.

"It was great!" she said excitedly. "The room is so much bigger than I thought! And Mike is really cool. Like, he came here to show me around even if it was his free day, and he is taking care of all the paperwork. He even said he's gonna give me my own keys so I can come here whenever I want! Now that I think about it, I should really find a way to return the favour..."

"Mike is a great guy, I'm sure he doesn't want you to feel in debt or anything."

And I was gonna build a fucking golden statue in his honor anyway.

"Yeah, well... I'll still think about it..."

The red light forced me to stop the car, and I realized I still didn't know which road I was supposed to take.

"Hey Britt, what do you want to eat?"

"I was thinking about pizza or Chinese maybe?"

"I dig them both, you choose."

" Ugh, but it's so hard..."

"The light is about to turn green, Britt, I need to know where to turn. " I said amused. She looked so deep in thought, like her decision could save lives.

"I'm not good at making decisions under pressure! You choose!"

The green light appeared, and instead of turning right or left I just kept going straight down the road.

"Let's go to my place, we'll order both pizza and Chinese and we'll make it a Netflix and home delivery evening. Whatcha say?"

"Will Quinn be okay with it?"

"She's out with Puck, she won't be home before midnight."

"Then I say you're a genius, Santana Lopez."

* * *

"Welcome to the Lopez-Fabray household!" I said, stepping inside of our apartment.

Brittany followed me inside."Your place is really nice, San!"

"Quinn chose most of the furniture, I hate dealing with that kind of stuff" I admitted. We took off our coats and shoes before I announced: "I'm gonna go change quickly, I can borrow you some clothes if you want something more comfortable to wear?"

"Nah, I'm cool. I'm wearing comfy stuff cause I didn't know if we were gonna start the cleaning at the studio today or not."

"Okay, just make yourself at home then" I told her, walking towards my room.

Within minutes I was back, wearing my sweatpants and a v-neck t-shirt; I had decided against the usual tank top because I had figured it was a bit too sloppy since I had company. I joined Brittany on the couch and we started listing all the things we wanted to eat. We ended up ordering enough food for at least two other people, but Brittany claimed the best way to eat Chinese was to try a little bit of everything.

She insisted on paying for both the deliveries, and this time I had to comply. At least I was glad we had ordered cheap food, tons of it, but still cheap. We decided to eat in the living room, so we put some pillows on the floor to sit on and managed to keep all the food on the small coffee table.

"Can we play a game before watching the movie?" Brittany asked, taking a slice of pizza.

I would have probably found that request totally lame if it had come from any other person in the world, but of course, since it was _her_ request, I just smiled and nodded. "Sure."

"Well, it's not really a game... I just figured we could take turns in asking questions and answering, so we can know each other even better."

"Deal, you first. Ask me anything." I said, amused.

"Okay... when did you realize you were gay?"

"Woah, already starting with the tough ones?" I joked. "Well, deep down it's something you always know, but I guess I realized it when I had my first kiss with another girl. I was fourteen and we were playing spin the bottle at some party. The bottle landed on this chick and I didn't make a big deal out of it at first, but the moment we started the kiss I felt something I had never felt with any guy I had kissed before. So yeah, I think that's when it really hit me."

"And did you tell your parents right away?"

"God, no, it took me two more years to admit it out loud, first to myself, then to them. But they were amazingly supportive, I couldn't have asked for a better reaction."

"I am happy for you" she said with a sincere smile. "Okay, your turn."

"So, I have been wondering about this for a while now... who's the cat in all your pictures?"

"Lord Tubbington! He's been my pet since I was 12, I should totally introduce you to him. Although he's got trust issues with strangers. He probably got that from me..."

I caught a hint of sadness in her last statement, and I also realized that her small admission was kind of a big deal for somebody so introverted and bashful as Brittany. I had wanted to address the issue before, but I had never really been able to think of a way to do that without making her feel like I was judging her. I took her words as a sign that it could be the right moment to carefully push the matter.

"Do you two also have the same hidden awesomeness? Because that would be a shame... It already is, actually." I told her with a smile.

She kept looking down while playing with her food, though I could see the corners of her mouth turning slightly upwards for a second.

"I guess trusting people is hard when you're used to take care of stuff on your own..." she told me after a few moments of silence.

"Britt..."

"I'm sorry, Santana" she interrupted me. "I know it's frustrating to deal with me most of the time, but I can't help it."

"You don't have to apologize. And it's not frustrating, I just feel bad for all those people who will never see what's under the surface."

"People can hurt you a lot if they don't like what's underneath. And they never do, it's never enough..."

I knew there was a lot more hidden behind those few words, but I also knew it was time to stop pushing.

"It's enough to me, Britt. I think you're amazing." I stated simply, covering her hand that was resting on the table with mine.

She blushed at that, but she still raised her head to look at me.

"I don't know why you do, but it makes me so happy. And... maybe it's dumb cause I don't know you that much after all... but... I trust you a lot" Brittany told me, and my heart skipped a beat.

How did I deserve this?

"But why me?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I don't know... Because your stare doesn't make me feel out of place, and you never treat me like I am a weirdo, even when I am totally acting like one... Does that make sense?"

"If it does to you, then it does to me." I squeezed her hand. She didn't say anything, she just raised her thumb to lightly stroke my pinky. We kept silent for a while, until I decided to end the emotional time. I really just wanted to see Brittany's smile back on her face.

"Hey, let's clean up a bit and watch that movie?" I asked.

"Absolutely" she answered, her features relaxing again.

I threw away all the empty boxes and put the leftovers in the fridge, before grabbing my laptop and sitting on the couch. Brittany quickly sat down beside me and we started scrolling through the movie titles.

"I'm not really in the mood for any of these..." I said after a while.

"Honestly, me neither" she replied. "Hey, wait, have you ever seen this one?"

I looked at the title she was pointing at. "Footloose? Yeah, I did, but we can watch it again if you like it. It was pretty cool, if I remember right..."

"Yes, please! Even if now that I think about it, I am kind of imposing my movie choice on you for the second time in a row..."

"Just shut up and watch, silly" I told her with a grin.

I quickly connected the laptop to the tv so we could enjoy it on a bigger screen before pressing play and settling back down beside Brittany, a pillow behind my back and my feet resting on the small footstool. Just like it was the most natural thing to do, Brittany pulled her feet up on the couch and leaned against me; a wave of heat rose to my ears when I felt her hands on my right arm, one around my bicep and the other on my forearm. Of course she decided to just kill me on the spot and lay hear head on my shoulder, too.

I completely lost track of time, too engulfed in a variety of different feelings to focus on the movie. Well, more like on anything that wasn't Brittany's skin, or her warmth, or her silky hair, or her smell...

It was even worse than that time at the cinema, because now she was so much closer and it affected me both emotionally and physically. That mixed feeling I had previously described to Quinn was coming back to surface: I wanted to cuddle with her, hold her close and tell her sweet things, but I also felt this urge to pull her in my lap, slip my hands under her t-shirt and start a heavy make-out session.

The fact that she absentmindedly stroked the skin of my arm from time to time didn't help at all; I was so mad at myself for losing control so easily. I was a grown-ass woman acting like a teenager with her first girlfriend.

_You need to cool down, or you'll never make it 'til the end of the movie._

I tried my best to think about the biggest turn offs I could come up with, but not even the mental picture of a naked Rachel Berry could help with the storm going on inside of me.

And then I just stopped trying. I remembered what Quinn had told me, and then Kurt, and Puck too, and another idea flashed through my mind.

_You can't fight this, so don't. _

And even if it was risky, even if it was scary, it felt kind of exciting too. It felt right.

I _wanted _ it.

But first I needed to swallow the lump in my throat.

"I'm grabbing a glass of water..." I mumbled while getting up; Brittany just nodded and let go of my arm, still completely focused on the tv screen.

Once I was in the kitchen, I drank the fresh water in big gulps, and it actually helped a little; I then took a deep breath and stepped back into the living room.

_Come on, Lopez. Time to grow some balls._

As I was getting back to my previous position on the couch, I felt Brittany lean into my side again; before she could settle her left hand around my bicep like before, I grabbed it in a smooth move and slowly intertwined our fingers. She didn't protest at all; I felt some movement of her cheek against my shoulder, but I didn't dare checking if she was actually smiling. I definitely was.

It all felt so couply.

I remerged from my bubble of happiness when I saw the credits appear on the screen. Neither of us moved from our position, I just turned the volume down a bit.

Brittany hummed contentedly. "Footloose always puts me in a good mood. I guess it's because of all that dancing. And the super cool songs."

"Can I come see you dance one day?" I asked. "Once everything is settled with Mike."

She squeezed my hand tighter. "Would you really come?"

"Only if you want me to."

"Oh my God, I'd love to! I just hope I can dance in front of you..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning my head towards her.

"Well... you make me nervous..." she said in a small voice. "It's a good nervous, I think, but I don't wanna stumble and fall right in front of you...". She then looked back at me with those stunning blue eyes, lightly chewing on her bottom lip, and I felt my heartbeat speed up for the millionth time that evening.

"You know, you make me nervous too. Like, from even before I actually knew you. It took me ages to gather the courage to send you a message" I told her honestly. Seeing her smile was worth the embarrassment of that admission.

"I'm glad you did tho..." she said, and I could swear to God I saw her face inching closer to mine.

"Me too..." I whispered, my eyes falling from her eyes to her lips.

She was so beautiful, and so close I could count all the small freckles around her nose one by one if I wanted. But in that moment my mind, my heart and my body were all telling me to do the same thing.

_Kiss her._

I started to slowly lean towards her, my stare still glued to her lips. I tilted my head to the side, brushing the tip of her nose with mine in the motion; I closed my eyes and I was just one moment away from finally savoring the taste of her lips when she slightly retracted her head and whispered some words.

"What are you doing?" Brittany asked in a thin voice. She didn't sound mad, just very startled.

"...huh?" I dumbly answered, opening my eyes only in that moment. Before I could really process all that had just happened, Brittany was already off the coach and on her feet.

"I should really go now." She quickly grabbed her coat and her shoes and disappeared out of the door without even putting them on.

I stared at the door for a few seconds before realizing I had basically just ruined everything.

"Shit."

I darted out of the apartment and down the stairs, immediately looking for a glimpse of blonde hair as soon as I got on the sidewalk. I could see Brittany already down the road, walking towards her house. I started running after her, not bothering about the fact that I was wearing nothing but white socks, old sweatpants and a t-shirt. I couldn't feel the cold anyway.

"Brittany, wait!" I shouted once I was closer to her. She just picked up her pace and I had to run faster in order to be able to reach her.

_Those damn long legs. _

"Please, just listen to me for a second..." I said grabbing her arm and trying to make her slow down, but she just pushed me away.

"I don't wanna talk, Santana. Go home and leave me alone."

" I feel horrible, Britt, please let me explain... I didn't want to freak you out..."

People were probably amused by the sight of two girls walking down the road looking like they had just ran away from a sleepover, but I couldn't care less about that. We were only a few feet away from the main door of Brittany's building when she stopped and turned to look at me. Her expression was really hard to read, a mixture of disappointment, anger, fear, embarrassment... It really took me aback. I had never seen her features wearing that kind of emotions, and I didn't like it at all.

"You didn't want to, but you did. Seriously, what's so difficult to understand about the word "straight"?" She looked at me expectantly, but in that moment I was completely unable to speak, so she just shook her head and reached the door.

_She's not being honest, and you know that._

Frustration took over my guilt, and I decided to speak up before she could disappear inside of the building.

"So it's all my fault, now? I'm just a stupid bitch who makes things up in her mind, right?" I asked in a loud voice. She turned around on the doorstep, not expecting my sudden outburst.

"Maybe I am, but we both know it's not just that."

"Santana...

"No, Brittany, I am not gonna stay here and let you blame it all on me. Fact is, I like you a lot, and I am pretty sure you know that very well. And if there is one thing I know, is that you're into me too, even if you don't wanna admit that."

" What? I am not, I was just trying to be friendly..."

"Seriously? Because Quinn is my friend, but we don't hold hands when we walk. Or when we're watching a movie. Fuck, we don't CUDDLE when we watch a movie. She doesn't call me to say she misses me and I don't hold her in my arms and rub her back when she's cold. So you can tell me that you don't wanna do this anymore, you can tell me you were just confused and now you're having second thoughts, whatever. But don't try to sell me this friendly bullshit, because I won't buy it."

I felt out of breath, more because of my ranting than the recent run. Brittany was still standing there, her expression even more unreadable than before. We stood in silence for a while, waiting for God knows what to happen.

_Say something, please. Anything._

"Goodnight, Santana."

She closed the door right in my face. Both physically and metaphorically. I suddenly felt really cold, and it wasn't only because of my lack of clothing.

I only realized I had my phone in my pocket when it started ringing. It was Quinn.

"...hello?" I said, barely audible.

"Santana! Where the hell are you? I just got home, I saw your keys and your coat but you weren't there, I was freaking out!" I could hear Puck in the background, asking if I was ok.

"I'll be home in a minute, Q..."

"...what happened? Are you okay?"

I let out a loud breath. "No."


	12. Chapter 12

**First of all, I made a reference to Kate Nash's "Nicest Thing" so, for those of you who don't know the song yet (but I guess it's pretty popular ^^) I recommend you to go listen to it before reading the chapter, because it is needed to understand a small part of it (although it's not necessary for the overall plot!) **

**I can see you guys reading the story and the characters in so many different ways, it's so great! I'm truly appreciating each and every one of your comments :-) Thank you for being so loyal to this journey, it's just the beginning! **

Having forgotten to bring the keys with me, Quinn had to buzz me in. When I got up the stairs I found the door of our apartment already open, so I just got in and then slammed it shut. Quinn and Puck immediately came to sight, both looking equally worried.

" Lopez, what happened?" Puck immediately asked.

I took a few steps forward and as soon as the couch was within reach, I unceremoniously fell down on it.

"Nothing" I answered, closing my eyes and hitting my forehead with my own fist "I'm just a fucking idiot who can't keep it in her pants."

" Santana, what did you do..." Quinn muttered. She sat down beside me and grabbed my wrist to stop the motion of my fist. When I opened my eyes again I found her and Puck, who was standing near the television, both looking at me expectantly, a hint of worry still visible in their eyes.

"Hey, it wasn't all my fault! At least I think... ugh..."

"Listen, chica, we're not following here. Start from the beginning" Puck said. "Is Brittany involved?"

"Yeah..."

The wound was very fresh, so a part of me just wanted to disappear in my bedroom and avoid everyone, but I also felt the need to tell everything to my friends and hopefully get support and advice.

"Okay, you know I was supposed to have dinner with Brittany? Well, we decided to order food and eat here, and then we watched a movie. It was all going fine, great actually... She kept sending me those signals..."

"I don't like where this is going..." Quinn said.

"Jeez, Quinn, she was all cute and blushing, and then she tried to cuddle... but now I'm thinking that maybe she wasn't actually trying... but really, she was so close, and she kept touching and caressing and I couldn't focus on anything else. I decided to just do something, so I got closer, we held hands and it was all so fucking perfect. Then she decides to just tell me how glad she is that we met when she's literally inches from my face and I thought she was really sending me THE signal, you know..."

"So you tried to kiss her" my best friend finished the sentence "and it didn't go as you expected."

"She freaked out, like she literally ran away. I ran after her, that's why I didn't grab my keys or my coat...or my shoes."

"But did you manage to talk to her?" Puck asked.

"Yeah, that's the worst part."I said, and I paused for a second, rubbing my eyes. "I wanted to apologize, but then she made it look like I was the bad guy who had tried to get into her pants when she had made it clear that she's not interested. I... I got really mad at that... I told her I knew she was into me too and to stop lying, so she just shut the door right in my face."

Neither of my friends said anything for a while, probably waiting for me to calm down before speaking again.

"Santana... do you believe the things you told her?" Quinn finally asked.

"I don't know Quinn, it finally seemed all so clear in my head, but now I keep thinking that maybe I made everything up and she was ACTUALLY just trying to be friendly the whole time..."

"That's bullshit!" Puck interjected. " You're not just a friend to her! It was pretty obvious before, and if everything you said about this evening is true, it's even more obvious now..."

"Ugh. I know. I FUCKING KNOW!" I said, slamming my hands on my thighs. "But why is she doing this?"

"Santana..." my roommate started. "Can I say something?"

"Of course...?" I knew Quinn could be very wise, and she was way more experienced than me in the whole relationship thing.

"First of all, I agree with Noah. Even Kurt told you Brittany is interested in you... I think that's out of discussion. I do believe that you shouldn't have brought it up in that way... especially if I am right about the reason behind her reaction."

"Which is...?"

Quinn half smiled and simply said: "Gay panic."

I stared at her intently. " So you think she's like... in the closet?"

"Maybe? I mean, what I am pretty sure of is that she realized she likes you, but she finds it confusing for some reason, and when you made her face it directly she panicked. Maybe it's because she's in denial, or maybe because you're her first girl crush... or something like that."

"That makes sense, if you think about it." Puck added.

It really did. But...

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"Whether I am right about her or not, the only thing you can do is give her some space and then try to talk to her again."

I leaned back and puffed. Why did it have to be so messed up?

" I think I'm gonna go to bed... I feel kind of exhausted right now." I stood up and headed to my bedroom, but before disappearing behind the door I turned around to my friends."Thank you, guys."

They both smiled at me and Puck tried to reassure me. "Don't worry too much, it will be fine."

"Yeah... I hope so."

* * *

My bad mood was very well visible the following afternoon. I had entered Schuester's without saying a word and every time I had some task to take care of, I just kept slamming and throwing stuff around. Tina and Rachel knew well not to approach me when I was pissed, but that day my boss, Will, was there too, and when I broke the third glass in a row he decided it was time to come and talk to me.

"Santana, are you okay?" he asked in a slightly concerned tone. I appreciated the fact that he was more worried about me than about the half-mess I was currently making behind the counter; that's why I didn't snap at him when he approached me.

"Yeah... I'm sorry, Will, I'll be more careful."

"It's fine. I can afford a couple of new glasses" he joked. "But you don't look good at all. Did you even sleep last night?"

"Not really, no..." I answered lowering my gaze on the plates that I was currently drying.

"Listen, why don't you just go home and get some rest? I'm here, I can cover for you."

"No, no, I 'm okay, I can stay, really."

"Hey, I'm saying it selfishly, you're kinda scaring everybody here, I need my employees to be working in a nice environment" he told me with a slight smile. It was pretty obvious he was trying to convince me to just take the rest of the day off; I actually felt pretty shitty, and I could totally use some rest, so I ended up agreeing to leave earlier.

"Thank you again, Will" I told him a few minutes later, ready to walk out of the door.

"No problem... take care, Santana."

At the bus stop, I pulled out my phone to check the time. It was only 4.30 P.M., I had plenty of time to rest before dinner. My fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they scrolled through my contact list until they found that one name that had never left my mind for the last couple of weeks.

I stared and stared, but of course this time nothing happened.

The bus finally arrived and it was nearly empty; once I was sitting down I went to look at Brittany's personal page on both Twitter and Facebook. The only new thing I found was a Youtube link posted on her Facebook timeline around 2 A.M. that night.

_"Nicest Thing" by Kate Nash. _

I perfectly remembered a seventeen-year-old Santana listening to that song in the darkness of her bedroom, thinking about the umpteenth girl who really just couldn't reciprocate her feelings. Yeah, I had always been a huge sap behind private walls.

But now, connecting the song to Brittany led to a new range of emotions.

Was I even related to that post? Maybe she just liked the singer or something.

I pressed play and I immediately recognized those notes I hadn't heard in a long time.

_Oh, man, this is the perfect crying song._

I sighed, listening to the words.

Brittany was by far the nicest thing I had seen, and I really wished we could give it a go.

Her smile was absolutely my favorite kind of smile, and I was never gonna forget the look on her face when we had first met.

And I had actually spent the previous night awake because of her.

_I wish that we could see if we could be something._

The bus came to a stop and I got down on the sidewalk, my plans of getting some rest already forgotten. I knew I was supposed to give Brittany some space, but I already missed her too much to be able to stay away without at least trying to talk to her one more time. I stood still for a second, wondering if I was about to do a huge mistake, but then I started walking towards the grocery store down the street.

As soon as I got in, I started to shamelessly look around, hoping to catch a glimpse of blonde hair. I walked up and down the aisles repeatedly, but there was no sight of Brittany. I was starting to get weird looks from people when I heard a voice calling my name.

"...Santana?"

I turned around to find Kurt walking towards me. Not really what I was hoping for, but I could still use his help.

"Hey, Kurt..." I had a moment of hesitation when I saw he was looking at me in a not-so-friendly way. "I... uhm... is Brittany here?"

"She took a day off." He sighed. "She's upset. But I guess you know that."

Of course she had told him about the previous evening. He was her best friend, after all.

"Look, I know that you're probably mad at me..."

"I asked you one thing, Santana. To be careful with Brittany and not let her down. And three days after that you jump at her?"

"What the fuck, Kurt, that's not what happened!"

I was quickly getting pissed off; I didn't deserve the bad guy treatment. Not again.

"So you didn't try to kiss her?" He asked.

"Yes, I did. Guilty. But did she tell you that she has been all over me the whole evening?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow skeptically, and that just sent me right to the raging place.

"Fine! I'm an asshole who has been trying to get it on with Brittany the whole time! I obviously don't give a shit about her, that's why I have spent the whole night awake and I couldn't even stand being at work today, and that's why now I am in the middle of a stupid store screaming like a bitch to some guy I barely know! I'm just very disappointed that I didn't get laid! Is that what you want to hear, Kurt?"

He looked slightly alarmed. "Santana, don't yell..."

"Then stop treating me like I tried to take advantage of her, because you know I wouldn't. You were the one who said I was good for her, and also that she might have feelings for me. What changed your mind?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, massaging his temples, before letting out a loud breath and looking at me again. "You're right, Santana. I am sorry if I jumped to conclusions without letting you explain. Britt is like a sister to me, when I saw her this morning she was really upset, I just naturally took her side."

"I understand. But believe me when I say that I wouldn't have tried to kiss her if I hadn't felt something from her too."

"Well... Brittany didn't really mention any of that. Actually, she gave me a pretty confusing version of the facts..."

"What did she say?"

" Listen, I'm off in an hour, why don't we go to a bar and talk a little?"

It seemed like a good idea, so I accepted. We agreed on the place and I headed out of the store, relieved that Brittany's best friend was willing to give me a hand.

* * *

I was expectantly looking at Kurt, who was sipping his coffee deep in thought. I had just finished telling him everything about the previous evening, including the conversation with Puck and Quinn.

"I don't know what to think, honestly..." he said after a while.

"You do believe me, right?" I asked.

"I gotta be honest, your version is not that hard to believe... I mean, I saw how Britt usually acts around you, and she didn't really explain a lot when we spoke. I wonder if this whole gay panic thing that Quinn mentioned is the truth."

"I have no idea Kurt. And I have no clue on what I'm supposed to do right now. Quinn said I should give her space, and deep down I know it's the right thing to do but... I already miss her" I told him. Yes, it was totally lame, but it was also the truth and I needed to be completely honest if I wanted Kurt to trust me.

"I can't do much more than trying to talk to her again..."

"Will you let me know if you do?"

Kurt sighed deeply. "I will. But I need to make it clear that even if I like you, Santana, I am getting into this only because I love Britt and I hate to see her upset. So don't expect me to work any magic and make her come back to you or something."

"I know, I'm not asking you to do that. At the end of the day, I just want her to be fine."

We exchanged phone numbers before he announced he had to head back home. As we both went out of the bar, he stopped in front of me and looked at me with a half-smile.

"I really hope things will be fine between you and Britt. I probably shouldn't say this but... You'd be a great girlfriend to her. She needs someone like you in her life."

"I don't... uhm... thanks Kurt."

We said goodbye and he started walking away, soon out of sight. But my feet were still glued to the same spot on the sidewalk, the weight of my thoughts preventing me from moving.

_Girlfriend. Brittany's girlfriend._

Even if I had taken this whole thing with Brittany pretty seriously, my mind had never really went THAT far; and I had nearly told Kurt I didn't want a girlfriend just a few minutes before. Nearly.

_Girlfriend is a big word. I have always thought more about a... "casual but not so casual dating thing"?_

_But like, the kind of dating where you spend a lot of time together._

_And you don't date other people. _

_And you go away together during holidays._

_And she sleeps at your place even if you don't have sex._

_Wow, that last one was huge, Lopez. You SO want Brittany to be your girlfriend._

I shook my head and started walking towards my apartment. I didn't even know if she was gonna talk to me again, all those thoughts about becoming serious with her were definitely out of place.

I spent the whole evening telling Quinn everything about the day, from Will sending me home earlier to my chat with Kurt. She listened carefully, but nothing new was really added to what we had already said about the matter the previous night. She still thought I had to keep quiet for a while and let Brittany figure out things by herself, or maybe with Kurt's help, but without me getting in the way.

No need to say it, I spent another sleepless night turning around in my bed and tossing the covers around, my mind drowning in a sea of thoughts.

* * *

It was Friday morning, and I was in a horrible state. My sleeping schedule was completely fucked up: perfectly awake at night, in constant need of a nap during the day. I could barely survive my work shifts, and when I was home I had no strength to tidy the house, cook or do any other kind of activity. My mood had never been worse. I had tried to text Brittany a couple of times during the week, but she didn't acknowledge me. And not even Kurt had let me know anything about that talk he was supposed to have with her.

Of course, everything I saw was black.

So when I heard a knock on the door at 9 o'clock, I didn't bother getting up from the couch. Whoever it was, they could come back another time, possibly when Quinn was home too.

But after a minute of silence, the knocking started again, this time more insistent.

"What the hell..." I muttered, slowly getting on my feet. I reached the door and cursed myself for not listening to Quinn when she had suggested to put a peephole on it. I pretty much swung it open, already annoyed at whoever was behind it.

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open when I saw the reason I was miserable in the first place stand there on my doorway.

"Hi." Brittany said in a slightly high-pitched voice.

"Britt, what are you..." I started, but I didn't get to finish my sentence.

"No, please, just listen to me, because I have a lot of things to say and I have spent the last half hour out of your door gathering the courage to say them all... First of all, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run away, I shouldn't have yelled at you, I shouldn't have ignored you all week actually. But I really, really needed to think about some stuff. Kurt helped me... uhm... figure it out a little bit. So now I'm gonna start saying what it was, okay?"

She was fidgeting with her hands like crazy, and she was biting her lip while she waited for me to give her an answer. I just nodded, still too shocked to let out any word.

"Okay. I've known you were special since day one, you know? When you stood up for me with that guy at the grocery store. Not only you somehow acknowledged me, you actually took my side, and it was huge because I have always been used to be invisible to the others. When we met again I was crazy nervous, but you put me at ease and didn't judge me for anything. And then we spent time together and I realized how easy it was, how good it felt, and that was huge too. "

She took a deep breath, like she was preparing for something really important, then started again.

"We went to that pub, I saw your friends being all couply, you know... And I have no idea why, but my mind went straight to thinking what it would be like... to have that... with you. It was weird, and totally unexpected, but I couldn't help it. I had never ever seen another girl in _that_ way before. I just wanted to be close to you, and I think you realized that too..."

By that time she was blushing profusely, but she kept looking at me while she spoke.

"It felt right, to hold your hand and stuff. Because really, you're the awesomest person I know and... I feel safe when I'm with you. Like nothing can really hurt me, and I actually matter. But for all this time I've never admitted all of that out loud, that's why I panicked when you... you know..."

"Yeah." I blurted out, mostly to see if I could still use my voice somehow.

"And I still don't know what all of this means exactly, because I have been by myself for so long I can't even distinguish between a friendship and... like, more... Plus, the fact that you're a girl still confuses me a lot. But now I know for sure that I'm willing to... find out. So what I'm trying to say, Santana, is that... if you maybe still wanted to... kiss me... well, I would let you this time."

I was a bit stunned, but I quickly focused when I heard those last words. I forced the voice out of my throat.

"Brittany... I... It's great that you're being so open, you have no idea how great it is, really. I didn't expect to get all of this at once and...it's overwhelming... and... Do you really want me to kiss you?" I finally asked, because even if I had spent the last days being miserable because of her, even if I was still very confused about us, in that moment all I wanted to do was to pull close and kiss the girl who was making my heart beat faster than ever by telling me there was actually a chance we could really become an _us._

"Yes. I... need to know..."

I reached for her hands, gently pulling her towards me; we raised our stare at the same time, blue and brown finally meeting again. I got closer and closer, until I was barely an inch from her lips, my head slightly tilted to the side. This time I stood still for a second in that position, almost waiting for her to slip away from me again. I could feel her breath hitch, but she didn't move.

I finally closed the gap between our mouths, and I felt my legs go weak at the contact I had been longing for. I kept my lips still on hers, until I felt her applying a bit more pressure on my mouth and I realized she was starting to kiss me back. I let go of her hands and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She put her hands around my neck, her thumbs lightly brushing against my skin.

In that moment, nothing mattered except from the girl I was holding in my arms. I could only feel the sweet taste of her lips, the warmth of her body against mine, the light tickling of her hair on my face; no sounds came to my ears but the soft noises coming from our lips molding together.

It wasn't a passionate kiss, it wasn't an emotional one either; it was all of that and so much more. I just wanted to drown into that feeling forever.

She eventually pulled back, and I nearly let out a gasp from the sudden loss of her warm mouth. We stood still, panting lightly, our arms around each other and the tips of our noses touching.

"Wow..." Brittany whispered, a little out of breath. "Santana..."

"Go on a date with me?" I quickly interrupted her. "Like, an official one. Tomorrow night?"

I saw her biting her lower lip, a shy smile appearing on her face, and I barely kept myself from kissing her again.

"Okay."

"Okay."

I don't know for how long we stood there, staring into each other's eyes, no words needed.

"I should really go to work now..." Brittany said, taking her hands away from my neck and resting them on my shoulders.

"Want me to walk you there?" I asked, my arms still around her.

"No, no, I should actually run, or I'll be late." I nodded, and I ever so slowly let go of her. As we parted, she brushed her hands all along my arms, from my shoulders to my hands until the only contact between us was the touching of our fingertips.

"Bye..." she said as she took a step backwards, still smiling brightly.

"Bye." I told her, my smile just as big as hers.

We looked at each other one last time before she turned around and headed down the stairs. I didn't go back into the apartment until I had caught the last glimpse of her blonde hair.

I took a step back inside and closed the door behind me, then I leaned against it and let out a long sigh.

I licked my lips, finding Brittany's heavenly taste still on them.

_Quinn said it right._

_You're one lucky bastard, Santana Lopez._


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry if I made you wait more than usual... university is taking over my life! But I am so into the story right now I am doing anything I can to take some time for the writing. Anyway, enjoy!**

Earphones on, I was singing and dancing to the rhythm of the songs while putting a little bit of order inside of the cupboards of the kitchen when I turned around and found Quinn staring at me with an amused look.

"FABRAY! What are you doing home?" I said, immediately trying to put myself back together.

"It's 6 P.M., Santana."

"Oh well... Time flies!" I shrugged while walking past my best friend, but she grabbed my elbow and stopped me.

"Wait a second... the whole house is clean, you look like you finally got some sleep, you were SINGING while doing the cleaning. What the hell happened? Because I am pretty sure the Santana I know looked like a depressed hobo just eight hours ago."

"Well..." I started, a goofy grin appearing on my face "the hobo got a really unexpected visit this morning, and one thing led to another, and tomorrow night she's going on a date with the sweetest, prettiest, smartest, hottest girl she has ever met... "

"Brittany? Are you talking about Brittany?! Please tell me you're talking about Brittany!"

"I'm talking about Brittany."

"Oh my God, I am so happy for you!" she said, and I was little taken aback when she pulled me in a hug.

"Woah, calm down, how come you are so excited?" I said laughing.

"Because it was about time you got out of your zombie phase! And I really like Brittany anyway." She pulled back. "But now you gotta tell me everything... How did you do that? The situation was still pretty hopeless when I left for work this morning..."

"Hey! Why didn't you tell me you thought it was hopeless?"

"Well... I mean..."

"You know what? Nevermind, right now I am too happy to be pissed, even at you." I smirked before sitting down on chair, Quinn quickly sitting beside me.

"So... I didn't really do anything, actually. Brittany just showed up here, and before I could say a word she was really opening up about everything. She said she was sorry for avoiding me, and that she had to figure out some stuff." I paused for a second; telling Quinn about what had happened that morning made me realize it was all real... It felt so unbelievable.

"And...?"

"She likes me... as more than a friend." My smile grew bigger at that thought." Or at least she thinks so, because she has never been into girls before, so she's still a bit confused. But she's willing to give it a try."

"So you asked her out?"

"Well, I kissed her, and then asked her out."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah... I wanted to say so many things, but I was kinda overwhelmed, and she was right there telling me it was okay to kiss her, and so I just did. Oh God, I really did. Best kiss ever..." I said in a dreamy voice.

"Look at you... You're such a romantic puppy!"

"Okay, I'm gonna go have a shower before I slap you..." I said in an annoyed tone, but smiled as I walked away.

"Oh no, the puppy is mad at me..." I heard Quinn mocking me as. "Will you love me again if I make you the best sandwich of your existence?" She asked as I stepped inside the bathroom.

"MAYBE."

* * *

That night at work I felt really inspired, which meant better drinks for the customers, which meant bigger tips for me. It became pretty clear when a guy handed me a 50$ bill and refused to take the change.

"I'm feeling generous tonight... I'm pretty sure those last drinks you made will get me laid!"

"Well, thank you buddy, and good luck!" I said with a grin.

It was around 11 P.M. and I didn't even feel tired. I was actually having a good time, for as much as you can enjoy yourself if you're working. Of course, my incredibly good mood didn't go unnoticed.

"Back from the dead, Santana?" I heard Tina shout over the loud music as she appeared behind the counter.

"You can say so!" I shouted back.

"What was all of that about anyway?" she asked, refilling the fridge with beers and cans of soda.

"Pretty big misunderstanding with Brittany, but now it's all good. I'm taking her out on a date tomorrow night!"

She playfully slapped my ass as she walked past me. "It was just a matter of time!"

I laughed at that, before focusing back on the Mojito I was making. As I was handing it to the girl who had requested it, I heard a familiar voice calling my name.

"Miss Lopez, can I ask for a Shirley Temple? Or should I think of something more badass?"

I turned around to find Kurt smirking at me from the other side of the counter. I quickly gave the girl her change and went towards him.

"It really is kinda lame, but I will make an exception for you..." I answered playfully while taking a clean glass and filling it with ice. "So, I guess I should say a huge thank you?" I asked.

"Nothing to thank me for, really. Brittany decided the direction to take by herself, she just needed a little push to actually start walking." Kurt said. "Turns out she's so much braver than we thought. I hope you appreciate that."

"I do, really. I almost couldn't believe it when she showed up at my door saying all that stuff. And I'll do anything I can to make sure she won't regret giving me this chance. I really hope she won't..."

"I wouldn't worry that much about it, today at work she couldn't stop talking about your date. Speaking of which... If I may suggest, don't overthink it, and no fancy stuff. Plan something simple, remind her of why she feels good around you."

"Do you think I have a shot of... you know..." I asked, adding a cherry to Kurt's drink before handing it to him.

"You have more than a few shots, actually. Believe me, I've heard enough of how smart, funny and wonderful you are. Brittany adores you. Besides..." He took a sip of his cocktail. "... let's not forget you're really hot too."

"If you didn't sound so gay I would think you were hitting on me" I said with a smirk.

Kurt just smirked back while taking another sip from his glass. "I'm gonna go back to my date" he said, motioning with his chin towards a guy with a weird shirt and big eyebrows. He went to reach for his wallet, but I stopped him.

"It's on me, don't worry."

"Oh well, thank you. Take care, Santana, and good luck for tomorrow."

"Thanks, Kurt. For everything." He gave me one last smile before disappearing through the crowd of people. I quickly resumed making drinks for other customers, my mood probably even better than before.

* * *

\- **Hey Britt, can I call you when you're on a break?**

**\- Hey :3 I'm free now**

I pressed the call button and Brittany picked up right after the first ring.

"Hi San..." she said in a purr-like voice.

_Is she even real?_

_Of course she is, you dumbass. And you're taking her out on a date. Lucky bastard, remember? _

"Hi Britt-Britt... I just wanted to make sure we're still on for tonight...?"

"Oh yeah, sure... I mean... of course we are!"

" Perfect!" I said with way too much enthusiasm to sound as cool as I wanted to sound.

"Should I have dinner at home or...?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Oh right. No, I was thinking we could go eat together, nothing fancy, just this cool place I know... if it's okay for you?"

"Definitely okay!"

" Great, pick you up at eight?"

"Okay! So... uhm..." Brittany started, but then she kept silent for a few seconds. In that moment I was in my room and I sat down on the bed with my legs crossed, waiting for her to keep talking.

"Is everything okay Britt?" I asked when the silence started to feel uncomfortable.

"Yes, I was just thinking that... there are a few things we still need to talk about... "

I threw myself backwards on the pillows, staring at the ceiling. "I know... but I think we should just face them one at a time. I mean, there's no rush, so we can totally talk about anything you want, but most of all I wanna enjoy our time together, you know?" I told Brittany.

She answered me in a lighter voice. "Me too. You're right, I shouldn't worry this much... "

"Well... does it sound weird if I say that I'm kinda glad you do?"

She let out a giggle. "What do you mean?"

"If you worry about something, it means you care about it too..."

"I do care about it, silly... A lot." I felt a warm feeling making spreading all over my chest at those words. "I can't wait to go out tonight. Actually, I think Kurt hates me right now cause I haven't been able to stop talking about it... oh and I think Tubbs is a bit jealous..."

"Of course, Britt, he doesn't know me, he can't just trust me like that. But I bet we'll be the best of friends!" I said, only half joking. If getting along with a chubby cat was the price to pay for dating Brittany, then I was gonna buy him a freaking golden cat box.

"I know right? I'm sure you will! Hey listen, I gotta go now, my break is over... see you tonight?"

"See you tonight Britt. Byeee!"

"Byeee!"

Brittany ended the call, leaving me there laying on my bed with a goofy grin on my face. I really wished time could go on faster so I could just grab the keys of the car and head to her place. I was a bit nervous, but most of all I was head over heels with the idea of being able to spend a whole evening with my favorite blonde.

* * *

I brought my finger to the small button right beside the name "Pierce".

"Here we are, Lopez. Don't screw this up" I whispered to myself before ringing the intercom.

"Yes?" Brittany's voice came shortly after.

"Britt? It's me, ready to go?"

"Be down in a second!"

I took a step back and rubbed my own arms a bit to fight the cold. Maybe my choice of clothes wasn't really appropriate for the weather: tight black trousers with matching black pumps and a strapless purple top, my shoulders covered with a small leather jacket. Thank God I had my warm black coat in the car, ready for this kind of situations. I had decided to go with the "I'm smoking hot but I didn't mean to show it" look because we weren't going to a fancy place, but I still needed to look at my best. Especially since I was going out with a girl who looked like a top model even in a hoodie.

That last thought was confirmed when Brittany finally opened the main door and stepped outside. Most of her outfit was hidden under her simple grey coat, but she still looked absolutely flawless. This time her hair was curly, her blonde locks framing her face and falling loosely on her covered shoulders. She was wearing very little make-up, just some eye-liner and a hint of lip-gloss.

_Of course she doesn't need make-up. She probably looks like a goddess even when she wakes up._

I was glad to notice she was wearing some brown boots with no heels, which meant we were at the same eye level. A pair of white ripped jeans was covering her never-ending legs.

I was bluntly staring, and she was probably aware of it, because she asked: "Is this okay? Cause you said we weren't going to a fancy place so..."

I snapped out of the trance. "YES! I mean, yes, totally okay... Actually, you look great!"

"Thanks..." Brittany said shyly and I couldn't help but grin widely.

"So" I started, trying to break the awkwardness "shall we go?"I offered my hand to her, who took it and let me guide her to the car. I smoothly opened the passenger door and waited for her to be inside before closing it and quickly moving to reach the driver's seat.

"Please don't think I'm crazy, but before we go I need to know... You like chicken right?" I asked buckling my seatbelt.

She let out an amused giggle. "Of course. But why?" she asked curious.

"Nothing, you'll see..."

"Come onnn?"

"Ok, ok... it's not that big of a secret anyway... I wanted to go to this place Tina made me discover. Chicken is basically the only thing they cook, like nuggets, wings and stuff, but the cool thing is they make like a hundred different sauces, some of them have the craziest ingredients, and you can try as many as you like. But of course if you don't like chicken it's kinda pointless to go there."

"Honestly that sounds like the best place ever, I'm already starving!"

"Glad you like the idea." I said pulling onto the road. "Everything okay at work?"

"As usual. My boss is such a huuuuge bitch, today she got crazy mad at Kurt just because he forgot to wear the plaque with his name. She said that if he forgets again she'll make him wear one with the nickname she has come up with for him. And he doesn't really wanna go around with "Porcelain" written on his chest."

"Well, the woman's obviously a bitch, but the nickname is kinda fitting..."

"San, that's mean..."

"Hey, I'm just kidding. I like Kurt, he's a cool guy, and a good friend. By the way, how did his date go?"

"What date?" Brittany asked curious.

"He didn't tell you? He came to the bar last night. He was with this guy with a ton of hair gel... he came to say hi, but I kinda lost him in the crowd of people and didn't see him again after that."

"No way! I'm so gonna stalk him until he tells me about it. And then he wants to know all about my dating life!"

We eventually fell in a comfortable silence, Brittany lightly humming to the songs on the radio while I focused on the road. In fifteen minutes I was pulling the car into the parking lot.

I shut off the engine and we got out of the car; she hopped out before I could open the door for her, but I made up for it by opening the entrance door of the restaurant and motioning for her to get inside first. This kind of "gentlewoman" acts were kinda new to me, but doing them made me feel all giddy inside.

A waiter escorted us to our table, and I was glad to see we were sitting in a corner booth because a) they had the comfiest seats, b)it allowed us some more privacy and c)at some point during the evening I could casually slip beside Brittany and sit closer to her.

"We have to write down the list of sauces we want and then give it to the waiter" I said, pointing at the piece of paper and the pen that had been put on our table. I grabbed them and looked at Brittany. "Yours first?"

"Uhm... there are so many..." she said while reading the menu.

"Well, I usually pick eight of them, four super awesome and four that sound nasty. We can both choose eight each and then share them?"

"Okay!"

Our choices had all kinds of ingredients, cheese, onion, peppers, but also cinnamon and strawberries. By the time our list was complete Brittany was overly excited and totally at ease. I mentally high-fived myself for thinking about that place.

We chatted about random things while waiting for the food, and I pretty much melted every time she smiled, or bit her lip, or did that cute scrunching of her nose. I felt my gaze inevitably fall down to her lips from time to time, only to avert it quickly whenever I started thinking about the mind-blowing kiss we had shared the previous day and how I wanted really badly to get a second one. And possibly a third. And then another hundred ones.

The food finally arrived, and we immediately started testing all the sauces, grimacing between laughs whenever we tasted a very bad one. We spent almost an hour like that, too taken by the newly discovered fun of dipping chicken wings into the small bowls to talk about anything else.

We were eating an ice-cream dessert when I thought it was time to bring up something that had been on the back of my mind all evening.

"I was thinking... You said you wanted to talk about some stuff, right?"

"Right..." she answered. " Mostly, I really wanted to know what do you think about... all of this. Because yesterday I pretty much did all the talking, I just had this urge to let everything pour out, and then before you could really say anything we were... uhm... kissing." She dropped her teaspoon and started fidgeting with her hands, like she always did when she was nervous. "I mean, I don't wanna force my decisions on you, you don't have to be fine with everything and..."

"Britt. Breathe, okay?" I said, covering her hands with mine and stopping her nervous motions. "You wanna know my thoughts?"

"Yes."

"Okay. First of all, I think you are amazing, but you already know that. I think I'm really lucky for having the chance to get to know you better, now more than ever, because that evening when you ran away from my house I thought I had scared you away for good. I think it's okay to be in a panic when things you don't understand happen to you, and that's why I really want you to know that I'm not mad at you for what happened that evening, not in the least. Actually, I think you're being incredibly brave, and I can't find words to describe how amazed I am from your will to be so open."

I kept slowly rubbing my thumbs over her hands, trying to make her feel reassured.

"Look, I know you have just started dealing with these feelings, and that you must be really confused right now. But know that I'm here, willing to take things at your pace. No pressure, no rush. My priority is to see you comfortable and happy, no matter what."

We stared into each other's eyes for a while, and I tried to pour all my emotions into that stare. I hoped she knew I meant every single word.

"You know, San, you're right. I'm confused. But there's a couple of things that are really clear in my mind" she said, moving to sit closer to me in an unexpected move. "Number one: you're by far the most special person I have ever met. And number two... I want you to be part of my life."

I could almost feel all her nervousness just by the touch of her hands still holding tightly onto mine. Not that I was any less nervous at that point.

"Because right now, I feel like that's the only way I'm gonna be comfortable and happy."

I don't know how I was able to gather the strength to answer.

"Then we're both lucky Britt-Britt. Because I was definitely planning on sticking around. For as much as you'll let me."

* * *

**Don't hate me for the small cliffhanger... I had to split the date in two parts, too much stuff for a single chapter! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Can't believe it's really over. Glee has been such a huge part of my teenage years... It started when I was 14 and ends now that I am 20; I literally grew up feeling like one of those Glee kids. I don't know how I'll survive without each and every one of them.**

**But hey, that's what fanfics are for, right? So here you got the second part of the date!**

Did every cell of my body scream to kiss Brittany in that moment? Yes.

All the surroundings seemed blurry and distant, as my brain could only process the closeness of her body, the feeling of her soft, warm hands in mine, the glowing of her cheeks, the shy, nervous smile tugging at her lips. My eyes nearly ached from the effort of taking in all of her beauty at once.

But as much as I craved pulling her close to me and just get lost in her taste again, I knew that it was simply not right. I had just told her I was willing to take things at her pace, and kissing her right after that only meant rushing them, instead.

Her lips were off limits, but I really couldn't find it in my heart to let that moment drop without showing her at least a hint of all the feelings bubbling up from my chest. So I did the next best thing I could think of, hoping it wouldn't mean overstepping boundaries.

I let go of her right hand and ever so slowly reached for a strand of her hair, gently pulling it behind her ear before leaning in and softly kissing her cheek. I let my lips linger there for a couple of seconds, relishing the smoothness of her pale skin, her scent already intoxicating my brain.

I pulled back and felt a wave of relief wash over me as I saw her smile grow bigger.

"What was that for?" She asked in the sweetest voice.

"Just because you're wonderful" I answered in one of my best displays of mushiness.

_Yep. Not even ashamed._

We resumed eating our desserts, the ice-cream nearly all melted, and only in that moment I realized what a gift it was to be left-handed, because that allowed us to keep holding hands, my right one tightly clasping her left one. The silence between us was a bit awkward, but that good kind of awkward that is all smiles and sweet looks.

I couldn't remember the last time I had felt that way.

"Hey, I need to go to the bathroom, be back in a minute." Brittany said after a while.

"Yeah, sure." I quickly figured that was the best moment to ask for the check, so I could pay without Britt seeing how much it was; I thought that would have been kinda rude since I had been the one asking her out. I caught the waiter's attention, and he immediately understood the situation so he was back with the check in no time. I showed my gratitude by leaving a decent tip.

_Hope this is enough. I ain't no billionaire, buddy._

He left just as Brittany was walking back to the table. I refocused all my attention on her.

"So you wanna stay a little longer, or maybe go to a bar, or just go home..."

"Uhm... about that, I wanted to bring you somewhere... if that's okay to you?"

I looked at her curiously. "Of course, let's get out of here."

"Wait, shouldn't we pay first?"

"I already took care of that. And put that pout away" I quickly said when I saw the look on her face, "because there's no chance in hell Santana Lopez asks a girl out and then makes her pay. This bitch likes to keep it classy" I said, hoping to steal another one of those smiles I was growing addicted to. When I realized my plan had worked, I mirrored her smile and waited for her to be wrapped up in her coat before offering my hand to her one more time and stepping outside of the restaurant.

* * *

"Britt, I don't get it." She had just made me park the car right in front of my building, and I didn't understand.

_Wait, is she trying to tell me she wants to go to my place?_

_Yeah, that's totally it, Lopez, I mean, it's completely logical that you two didn't even kiss once tonight but she is hinting at sleeping with you. Just stop being stupid already._

Of course I couldn't help but shiver when a picture of Brittany in my bed crossed my mind, but I quickly pushed that thought away; I needed to stay focused on making sure the date would keep going on smoothly, and I also felt kinda guilty and gross for having those not-so-innocent thoughts about her.

Thank God my internal ranting got interrupted by Brittany's voice.

"I wanted to show you my favorite place. You know, the one I told you about? It's not far from here, I thought it would be okay to just walk there... You said you like walking down the streets so..."

"I do, and I can't wait to see this famous place. Just so you know, I feel really honored, Miss Pierce." I joked, feeling much more relieved.

We got out of the car and I took off my leather jacket to replace it with my emergency coat that I took from the backseat. As I reached Brittany on the sidewalk, I was quick to take her hand in mine again and intertwine our fingers. I felt pathetically clingy, because I had basically done that at every chance I had gotten during the whole evening; but every time she had welcomed my gesture by sending me a shy smile, gripping my hand tightly or, like in that moment, brushing her thumb over mine. Plus it felt too good to really care about how pathetic I was.

I let Brittany lead me around those streets I knew so well, and within ten minutes we had reached that small park I used to go to from time to time.

"I know this place, I've been here with Quinn not long ago." I said.

Brittany just smiled and kept walking. We took the path that ran along the small lake until we reached a fence that prevented us from entering the woods that surrounded the park.

"Here..." she murmured pointing at a particular spot where the fence was loose. She raised it as much as she could and bent down under it, pulling me with her by the hand. I crouched down as gracefully as I could, and once we were past the obstacle I looked at Brittany questioningly.

"Uhm, where are we going Britt? I can't see anything. Is this safe?" I didn't really want to ruin the moment, but the darkness that surrounded us was kinda freaking me out.

"Trust me, San, I've been here a million times, I could do this with my eyes closed. There's nothing to worry about" she said, tugging at my hand lightly. I nodded and kept following her, feeling a bit more reassured.

In less than five minutes we had managed to climb up a small hill, and as we reached the top I immediately forgot about the pain in my feet caused by my heels.

"Welcome to my favorite place, San..." Brittany said as I stared in awe. I could see the whole neighbourhood with all its flickering lights coming from the houses, the bars and the cars running down the streets. There were no clouds in the sky, so the clear sight of the stars was just breathtaking.

"This is amazing..."

"I come here a lot, you know... It's peaceful. I usually bring a cover to so I can sit down, but it's not that I had planned to bring you here so..."

"I already love it here. But really, why did you feel like coming now?" I asked curiously.

"Because I figured there's some more stuff I need to tell you, and being here helps, cause I feel a bit more confident."

She took a really deep breath, and I just kept looking at her intently, letting her take her time to explain.

"Ok, so, you know I live with my dad right?" She started." We... have gone through really tough times after my mom died. He's never really been the same again. He got really protective, and even if I know he does it just because he loves me... it's not easy."

I nodded, understanding how Brittany was trusting me with really private stuff, even if I didn't know where she was headed yet.

" I don't get to go out a lot, not only because of my shyness and all of that, but also because he is really controlling about it. He's worried I might get into trouble, cause I'm not always the smartest one... But also, he kinda expects me to replace mom. Like, take care of the house, and cook, and all that stuff, and I do it happily because I know how hard he works for me, to keep our family together, but if I forget to do the laundry, or maybe I come home a bit late in the evening and I'm not there to make dinner when he comes home from work, he can get really mad, and makes me feel like I've disappointed him. So my days have a pretty strict schedule, you know? One time Kurt had invited me to go to his place and watch a movie, and I had to wait until dad was gone to work before sneaking out."

"I... I don't know what to say Britt." I had no idea on how I felt about the stuff she had just told me. "I mean, I'm sorry to hear that, and if there is anything I can do..."

"No, no, listen..." She interrupted me. "I'm not telling you because I need you to do something. It's ok, it's my life and I'm dealing with it. But remember how I had to run back home when we first met? Or when I said no when you wanted to have dinner together and then changed my mind? It was all because of that, and I thought you had to know that it might happen again, so now if it does... I don't have to lie to you, or try to brush it off... "

In that moment I realized how small her voice had become, so I let go of her hands and wrapped my arms around her. She let out a breath that she had probably been holding since she had started speaking, and she allowed herself to relax against me, her head on my shoulder, her hands finding their way inside the pockets of my coat.

"It's fine, Britt-Britt. Thanks for telling me..." I just murmured. And as we stood there in silence, a realization started to sink in. Before I knew it, I was already asking.

"Does that mean you want to keep going out with me?"

Brittany raised her head and looked at me, her face only a few inches from mine. Her cheeks turned slightly pink and her features relaxed again, a soft smile reappearing on her lips as she nodded.

"If you still want me."

I was grinning so much that my cheeks were nearly hurting. "Absolutely."

She giggled and briefly looked away, only to refocus back on my face as she rested her right hand on my cheek, stroking lightly.

"Can I kiss you?" she asked shyly.

I barely had the chance to nod before her lips finally landed on mine again. It felt new and familiar at the same time, every slow movement allowing me to discover new sensations and yet to reunite with that warmth and that taste I was already getting addicted to.

That whole thing about butterflies in your stomach? Bullshit. No way that feeling I was experiencing was caused just by a bunch of butterflies. It felt more like a whole gang of dolphins twirling and flipping around my insides.

The kiss didn't last long and when she pulled back I had to fight the urge to lean forward and get another one right away. Instead I nudged her nose with mine, causing her to giggle.

"You're cute" she whispered.

"And you're perfect" I said back. "And I was thinking... Can we get over this whole asking for permission thing? Because, I gotta be honest" I said with a smirk "I'm planning on kissing you a lot from now on, and you know, that might get in the way of my plans..."

"Well" she said in a playful tone "who am I to stop those plans?"

That was all I needed to close the gap between our mouths again; I instantly felt how more relaxed Brittany was this time, freely exploring my lips and moving her hand from my cheek to take a grip of my neck to pull me closer. And as her lips parted and our tongues met for the first time, I lost myself in the bliss.

* * *

"...and he was so drunk that at some point he started yelling and calling Rachel 'pelican-woman' and Will just had to kick him out. We're still not allowed to mention that whenever she's around..."

"Oh my God I can't breathe!" Brittany said between laughs.

We were walking back home and I was keeping her entertained with the tales of my crazy friends, all the while squeezing her tight against me with my arm around her.

"Rachel is nice tho... Kurt says she's his long lost twin." Brittany said.

"No way... He's cool, she's an annoying little dwarf."

"But she's your friend!"

"Yes, and I love her tons, but there's just so much of her I can take without going insane..."

"Then Tina is nice."

"Tina is nice, yes."

"And Mike too... We did some hip-hop freestyle together the other day, it was super fun!"

"Fun huh? Should I be jealous?" I joked as we came to a stop in front of Brittany's building.

She poked my ribs and giggled. "Silly..."

"Wait..." I said as a thought suddenly flashed through my mind. "Are you gonna be in trouble with your dad because of tonight?"

"No, no... He's out of town now. You know, his job here is not full time... He's sort of a plus one, and he's got no shifts planned for a few weeks, so he went to my uncle's farm to help and get some more money. He's not coming back before the end of the month."

"Oh, okay, good..." I said relieved."Britt, I had an awesome time tonight..."

"Me too. I'm glad you asked me out."

"I'm glad you accepted."

She leaned in and gave me a brief kiss. "Talk tomorrow?"

"Sure." I answered. "Goodnight, Britt."

"Goodnight, San."

I stood there as she opened the door and before she could close it I grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back towards me.

"One more..." I whispered as I pressed my lips to hers again, and I felt her smile into the kiss. I let her go after a couple of seconds, and watched as she disappeared behind the door after sending me one last look, still grinning widely.

I turned around and rushed back to my apartment as fast as I could, hoping to be able to fall asleep with the picture of Brittany's bright smile still very clear in my head.

* * *

**God, I'm so cheesy.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Huge apologies for taking so long! Hope you'll forgive me when you'll read this one ;)**

"Hope you enjoyed your breakfast, thanks for coming by!" I said to the middle-aged couple that was currently leaving the bar, a smile plastered on both of their faces.

Tina immediately appeared by my side. "Can you stop being so nice? Cause you're really scaring me."

I rolled my eyes. "Can you all stop thinking I'm a bitch all the time? I can be nice too, you know."

She raised her eyebrows skeptically.

"What? It's true. If you don't get to see that often, it's all your fault. You morons piss me off so much I don't get to show that side of me."

"Well, then why don't you prove it by cleaning table number 3? A kid just puked his whole meal on it." Tina said cringing.

"Hell no. I'm busy, see?" I said back raising the dishes I was putting in place under the counter.

Tina just huffed and headed towards the table with a cloth and a bottle of cleaning solvent. I chuckled lightly to myself and resumed doing my job; that lasted not more than a minute before a yelling voice startled me and I nearly dropped a whole stack of plates.

"SANTANA LOPEZ, TELL ME EVERYTHING NOW!"

Tina was walking back towards me, threateningly waving the cloth in my direction. She came to stand in front of me on the other side of the counter and I stared at her wide eyed as she kept screaming and shaking the rag in her hand.

"OF COURSE YOU'RE ALL HAPPY! I JUST REALIZED! HOW COULD I FORGET? HOW COULD YOU LET ME FORGET?"

I quickly got out of my initial shock. "Ok first of all, stop waving that thing because you're about to spread vomit everywhere!"

She let it fall into the sink and put her hands on her hips, looking at me expectantly.

"Second of all, what the hell are you talking about?"

"YOUR DATE, SANTANA, YOUR DATE! LAST NIGHT!"

"Who had a date?" Sam asked as he came to sight from the kitchen door.

"Santana! And she's about to tell us everything!" Rachel said, appearing at my side from out of nowhere.

Of course Tina hadn't been able to keep that information from Berry.

"Jesus Christ..." I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes one more time.

"Come ooooon!" Sam insisted "Spill it! You've been kind to customers all morning, and considering that you hate morning shifts, it must have been a pretty awesome date!"

"Seriously guys, why are you all suddenly so interested? You never gave a flying shit about all the girls I've been seeing in the last... three years or something?"

"Oh please, you weren't seeing those girls, you were sleeping with them!" Rachel immediately said. "This is different!"

"The date was with Brittany right? Because she is by far the hottest girl I've ever seen you with..." Sam started.

Tina began to speak over him."Wait, you didn't try to get it on with her on the first date, right? Because if you did and you screwed it I'll kick your sorry butt so hard that..."

"GUYS! STOP!" I yelled. A few customers turned their heads towards us, but my friends didn't even acknowledge them, too focused on staring at me to get me to say something. They had stopped rambling, but from the look on their faces I knew they weren't gonna give up so easily on getting some more information. "It was great. Happy?"

They obviously weren't.

"Fine... ugh... So we had dinner, everything went smoothly, and then we went for a walk. We cleared out some stuff, talked a lot and laughed even more." I realized I was already grinning, despite my annoyance. "And of course I didn't try to get my mack on. I'm not stupid, and she's not that kind of girl anyway... "

"And what kind of girl is she?" Tina asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Well... the kind of girl that I'm now dating..." I said with a light smirk.

"YES!" They all said in unison, and Rachel engulfed me in one of her awkward hugs, quickly followed by Sam.

He was quick to say: "You should totally invite her to Rachel's house tomorrow!"

"Wait... What happens at Rachel's house tomorrow?" I asked.

"We're all having dinner at my place" she chirped."I want you guys to try some of my new vegan recipes!"

"No way. I don't want Brittany to throw up on our second date."

"I will make some normal food too! Please, we would really like to see her again! And I have already invited Kurt!"

"I'll tell her about it but I don't promise anything, okay? Will you give me a break now?"

They all nodded satisfied and went back to their tasks, still looking at me with a grin from time to time. I didn't manage to look as pissed at them as I wanted to only because I myself felt pretty giddy in the first place. And yeah, maybe a vegan dinner wasn't something I was really looking forward too, but I was in that phase where I just craved Brittany's presence, and that was the perfect chance to see her again without feeling needy as fuck.

* * *

**Kurt: ****U gonna be at Rachel's tomorrow? U gonna ask Britt? I didn't tell her about it...**

_To Kurt:_ **Just got home, about to call her. I'm there only if she is. **

**Kurt: ****Great... Let me know. And btw, congrats ;) you know what I'm talking about**

I smiled to myself as I quickly started a call to Brittany. She picked up after a couple of rings.

"Hellowww!"

"Hi Britt..." I chuckled. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm watching tv with Tubbs. What about you?"

"Just got home from work... Aaaand I've got news. Fancy vegan stuff?"

"Never tried. Why? Is it something like last night with the chicken?" she asked, and I could feel the smile in her voice.

"Actually, Rachel's having this sort of vegan dinner party at her place tomorrow. All my friends are going, and she asked if you wanted to come too...?"

"Of course, but... Are you sure you want me there? I don't wanna intrude or anything..."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not going if you're not." I answered quickly " And why would you even think you're intruding? The guys keep asking about you, they like you a lot."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Not as much as I do though... But that's a good thing."

Brittany giggled. "Well, I guess I can't say no then... But I'm at the store until seven."

"I'm sure Rachel won't mind if we're a bit late. Pick you up at seven thirty?"

"Okay..."

There was something weird about the tone of her voice, I could tell.

"Brittany..." I said after a few seconds of silence, "if you don't wanna go it's okay. We can go somewhere else, the guys will understand. Or, like, if you don't wanna go out at all it's totally cool, I mean..."

"What? No, no... San, that's not it at all" she answered, and hearing the hint of a smile back in her voice reassured me. "I totally want to go, I was just thinking... I've been going out a lot since I met you."

"And is that good or bad?" I asked, not sure of what she meant.

"Good, like, really good... It's crazy. I mean... I'm not really the most sociable person in the world so It feels weird... But it's great. Ugh, sorry, I'm so awkward..."

"You're adorable."

Why I couldn't stop blurting out this kind of cheesy stuff lately was beyond my understanding. It just wasn't me, at least not the recent version of myself. I used to say that kind of stuff to my first real girlfriend, Dani, back in the day, but who's not cheesy at seventeen? Plus, speaking honestly, I mostly considered it the price to pay to get some... bed action.

Ahhh, those good old times when I still thought I needed a girlfriend to get laid.

She broke up with me because apparently I wasn't good enough at satisfying her "emotional needs", and she was probably right. We lasted four months mostly because I was overly excited about the idea of having a girlfriend out in the open, but really, we had NOTHING in common.

It was only in my senior year that I was introduced to the world of hookups, no strings attached. It turned out that I was "pretty hot for being a lesbian", as a college girl once told me at some party, and that meant being demanded also by straight chicks who were either really drunk or just wanted to experiment. It wasn't like I didn't want a girlfriend, but keeping it casual was way easier, and when I moved to New York after high school I just kept going down that road.

So this change of direction I had taken with Brittany was leading me to still very much unexplored territory, and that included all the new sensations and feelings that came along the way.

Like this irrational need of being all sappy around her, just for the chance of hearing her giggle and seeing her blush. I did it because I wanted to, not because I was supposed to.

"Awe... stop it..." Brittany said in her cute, embarrassed voice.

"But why? We just started dating, we're supposed to be all mushy and stupid!"

"Was that a line from Gilmore Girls?"

"Was it? I don't know, I never watched it..."

"Oh my God, you totally have to! I'll give you my DVDs..."

We spent another half hour on the phone, easily switching subjects and enjoying each other's company, even without being physically together. I was about to make a sandwich when Brittany told me she had to go because she still had to do the laundry and shower, so we said goodnight and I let her go.

I got back to my sandwich trying not to think about the beautiful, sexy girl I was dating naked and surrounded by hot steam.

_I need a shower too. A cold one._

* * *

I carefully studied my reflection in the mirror. Rachel insisted on having us wear comfy clothes whenever we did this kind of gatherings at her place because she claimed it helped create "a nice domestic environment where we can enjoy the true spirit of our little extended family". So there I was, wearing some black leggings and a huge red hoodie that nearly reached my mid-thighs, my black and grey Air Jordan completing the outfit.

_I'm totally rocking this look. Casual and hot._

I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail, put on my favorite scarf and my coat, grabbed my purse and the keys of the car and I stepped out of the apartment, ready to pick Brittany up.

It was 7.30 sharp when I parked the car right in front of her building and stepped outside to buzz.

"San?"

"Yeah, it's me, you ready?"

"Uhm... not really... but I'll be in five minutes, I promise! Come up? Third floor, first door on the left, it's already open!"

"Ok..."

I pushed the main door open and stepped inside; there was no elevator, so I took the stairs until I got to the third floor. I reached for the doorknob on my left and found the door already open, as Brittany had said. I slowly walked through the doorstep.

"Britt? Hello?"

I quickly scanned the apartment, which was pretty small and simply furnished. I was standing in the main room, which was both a kitchen and a living room; a door on the right, currently completely open, led to a short corridor from where I heard Brittany's voice.

"I'm hereeee!"

I reached the corridor and saw the light coming from one of the doors that was slightly ajar. When I poked my head inside, I saw Brittany standing in the middle of what I supposed was her room. A small bed, a wardrobe and a desk had been forced inside of the tiny room, which however seemed to have "Brittany" written on every corner. The rainbow-colored pillows, the stuffed animals all over the bed and the desk, the fake sunflower on the windowsill... and the chubby cat sitting on a chair right beside her.

"Hey San!" She said turning around and sending me a warm smile.

"Hey you..." I said back, walking towards her. I gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. "I see you've been informed about Berry's dress code" I told her. She was wearing a green small sweater with a white t-shirt underneath, a pair of grey sweatpants and brown Ugg boots. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, a couple of pins preventing some locks to fall in front of her eyes. I noticed she had no make-up on, her natural beauty standing out clearly.

"Yeah... Kurt sent me a text like, ten minutes ago, and I had no clue on what to wear, that's why I'm late... Let me just put some eye-liner on and I'll be ready to go."

"Sure, no problem. But... aren't you gonna introduce me?" I asked, smiling and gesturing towards her pet.

"Right! Santana, this is Lord Tubbington. Tubbs, this is Santana. See? She's great, you don't have to worry about her..." she said in a serious tone, scratching him behind his ears.

"Of course, sir, I promise this girl is in good hands!" I quickly added.

_Wow, now you're talking to a cat. If only Quinn could see you..._

He purred happily, probably because of the scratching, but Brittany still took it as a good sign. "I think he likes you!" she mouthed.

I could only grin at her cuteness. She moved to the bathroom to apply her make-up and I sat down on her bed, letting out a contented sigh as I kept taking in the surroundings. Within a couple of minutes she was back and ready to go; after one last gentle pat on the cat's head, she wore her coat, picked her purse from the bed and grabbed my hand to lead me out of the apartment.

The car ride was pretty short and in no time we were right out of Rachel's house; I rang the doorbell and we waited for her to come and greet us. In a matter of seconds she appeared on the doorstep with a big smile.

"Girls! So glad you could make it!" She nearly screamed, and enveloped us in a bone-breaking hug.

"Chill, dwarf, we need to breathe..."

"Please, follow me this way..." she said ignoring my remark. We left our coats and our shoes in the threshold and followed her to the basement.

"You have a beautiful house, Rachel!" Brittany said enthusiastically.

Before Berry could answer, all the others came to sight and stood up from the couch and the various chairs and armchairs they were sitting on to greet us. Well, more to greet Brittany while I stood on the side, not really enjoying how they were all over her. The only one to approach me was Kurt, who gave me a one-armed hug.

"Looking good, girl!"

"As usual..." I said back with a smirk. "No bowtie boy?" I asked, referring to the guy I had seen him with back at the bar.

"Nah... Cute, but he was trying way too hard. Maybe I'll give him another shot one day..."

"So" Rachel chimed in "as you can see I decided to make it like some sort of buffet, and since you girls told me you were gonna be late we have already started with our little meal, so please try whatever you want and let me know how it is!"

"Okay, Britt" I started once Rachel was back into her conversation with Tina "I have a sixth sense when it comes to Rachel's horrible recipes... you just fill our glasses, I'll grab the edible stuff for both of us..."

She nodded just before being grabbed by the elbow by Quinn, who dragged her to the table with the beverages while complimenting her dressing choice or something. Even if she probably wanted to know Brittany better mostly to satisfy her nosiness, I couldn't help but feel glad that she was trying to get along with her. Which of course was an easy task because I was dating an angel.

I was focused on filling the plates with whatever food didn't look absolutely nasty when Mike appeared beside me, and I remembered I still had something to tell him.

"Hey, Mike, I know it's been a while now, but I really wanted to thank you for letting Brittany use your studio for free. She's totally thrilled about it. You didn't really have to be so nice to her so... thank you, really."

"No problem, Santana. At all. Actually... Have you ever seen her dance?"

I was a bit taken aback by the seriousness of his tone. "Not yet, but I plan to. Why? Is everything okay?"

"Oh yes, yes..." he quickly said "that's the thing. She's not just okay, she's... great."

I kept looking at him, still pretty confused.

"As in... like a professional. Seriously, when she came to the studio last week and started practicing I was absolutely stunned. I already knew she's been dancing for a lot of time but... She's really, really prepared, and very talented too. You should totally see her."

As much as I was thrilled to hear about how awesome Brittany was in yet another thing, I still couldn't really grasp where Mike was headed with this information.

"Woah, it's amazing... but like, why are you telling me this?"

"I can't tell you yet but... Just help me making sure she keeps hanging out at the studio?"

I was still finding the whole conversation a bit weird, but I trusted Mike after all, so I decided not to inquire any further. "There's no need to... Told you, she loves coming there."

We both headed back to where all the others were sitting, and I quickly spotted Brittany still talking to Quinn, with Puck who had joined the conversation. I went to sit down with them.

"Hey BFFs, mind if I interrupt you?" I playfully asked, looking at the two blondes.

"Don't worry Lopez, we haven't started embarrassing you... yet" Quinn joked.

* * *

The evening was going pretty cool, the food was better than I had thought and everyone was really cheerful and relaxed. Quinn had brought her digital camera, and at some point everybody started posing for silly photos; the worst of them was probably the one where I was giving Sam a piggyback as he was pointing towards the direction to follow with his arm outstretched. Quinn took a really cute selfie with Brittany, who then was engulfed in one of Noah's bear hugs.

"Let big bro Puck take a picture with this little one!"

I couldn't even be jealous as he hugged her close. Being the oldest one in the group, he kinda took being protective towards us as his duty, and this side of him was totally showing with Brittany too, maybe even more since he was nearly ten years older than her.

Brittany wasn't really one to refuse a hug anyway.

"Britt-Britt" I said outstretching my hands towards her "Take a picture with me?"

Although she had been smiling a lot all throughout the evening, I noticed a change in her look and in the way she was grinning as she reached for my hands and let me pull her closer to me. I felt an almost familiar warmth spreading through my chest, and as we stood there cheek to cheek, arms around each other, posing for the picture, I couldn't help but wonder how it was possible that, between the millions of people living in this city, I was the one who made that very special smile appear on her face.

I barely had the time to enjoy Brittany's closeness, because her phone started ringing right after Quinn had snapped the picture. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

"Sorry, it's my dad, I have to take it..."

"Oh yeah, sure..."

She lightly squeezed my arm, then she quickly climbed up the stairs to have some privacy before taking the call.

A few minutes later, while I was looking at the pictures Quinn had taken with her camera, I saw Kurt going upstairs too; at first I thought he was probably going to check on Brittany, but as the time went by and they didn't come back to the basement I started to wonder what was going on. I decided to go check, so I excused myself from the others and headed towards the stairs.

Once upstairs, I heard their voices coming from the kitchen, so I went in that direction; as I entered the room, they both looked at me, slightly startled.

"Guys? Everything okay here?" I asked.

"Yes" Kurt said while giving Brittany a subtle, sly smile "everything's great. I'm just gonna go back downstairs..."

I watched as he disappeared out of the kitchen before turning to Brittany again. However, I didn't really have time to ask anything else as she closed the distance between us, her head on my shoulder and her hands tangled together resting on the small of my back.

I returned the embrace. "Hey... Are you sure everything is fine?"

"Yeah" she mumbled against my shoulder "I just wanted a hug."

"Oh... want me to call Puck again?" I joked.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure this is just as fine..." she said. We both let out a small chuckle before falling silent.

She spoke again after a while. "My dad figured out I'm not home."

"Oh... And what did he say?" I asked.

"He started asking questions about where am I and with whom... I just said I was with friends and he got pissed because according to him I shouldn't waste my time with a bunch of strangers who probably have... hidden intentions or something..."

The evident sadness in her voice instantly made me want to kick her dad right in the guts.

_Way to think about the father of the girl you want to impress._

"I don't understand... What is wrong about you going out and meeting people? You're twenty, that's what you're supposed to do!"

"San... don't get mad, please. As I said, he's just a bit too protective. I told you about the call because... I don't know, I'm sad about it and I just wanted to let it out." She raised her head to look at me. "But it's okay, it will all be forgotten by the time he comes back home. Telling you has already made me feel better, actually."

I looked back at her. "Are you sure?"

She smiled and nodded, before tightening her hold on me and pressing her cheek against mine. "I'm sure."

"Were you telling Kurt about it?" I asked after a few moments of silence, our faces still in the same position.

"No, he knows nearly nothing about my dad and I... Actually, he wanted to talk about you" she said with a chuckle.

"About me?"

"Yeah. He asked me if things with you are still fine... You know, if I still wanna do this thing."

I suddenly felt very, very nervous. "And what did you say?"

"That I do, because until now things are great, and... I like a lot of things about you."

She said the last part in a lower voice, her shyness taking over. Her answer had reassured me, and hearing her say that felt awesome, so I tried to push the matter a bit more.

"What things?" I asked with a small smirk.

She chuckled again, a bit embarrassed this time, but answered me anyway. "Well, I like that you're nice to me, of course. Super nice, actually. And that I smile a lot when I'm with you. I like that you're all badass, but also really cute. I really like your cheeks, because they're puffy and smooth. I like your eyes because they're really deep and kind, even when you pretend to be mean, and I like your skin because it reminds me of hot chocolate. Oh, and I also really like how you smell."

"And how do I smell?" I asked, enjoying this way too much to stop pushing yet.

"Uhm it's hard to describe... Something halfway between fresh-baked cookies and clean sheets."

By that time my grin was huge, and Brittany could probably feel it against her cheek.

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever been told."

We both moved our heads slightly and I inched forward, pressing my lips to hers in a gentle, slow kiss, my insides melting at the contact.

_I wonder if it will always feel like this._

_I hope so._

Eventually, I had to pull back.

It took me a while to be able to speak again."As much as I'm enjoying our time alone, I think Rachel wants to see some musical from her DVD collection, and if we don't go downstairs she'll come looking for us and force us down with her."

Brittany just gave me another peck on the lips before pulling me back to the basement by the hand. Walking down the stairs like that totally felt like floating, instead.

* * *

Apparently Berry was waiting for us to start the DVD, so as soon as we came to sight, she turned the lights off and pressed play. It was soon very clear that her and Kurt were the only ones actually paying attention to the tv: as they were sitting on the floor cross-legged right in front of it, all the others were paired up in couples, sitting close to each other and minding their own business. They all looked like a bunch of teenagers at the cinema, taking advantage of the darkness to make out undisturbed.

As I was sharing an armchair with Brittany, several thoughts started racing through my mind.

_I wanna make out too. So badly._

_You'll look pathetic. They all do. You're not teenagers anymore._

_And so what? I can't kiss this beautiful girl right beside me just because I have to pretend I'm all cool and grown up? Screw that, everybody's kissing, why would I give a shit about looking pathetic?_

_Fine. But you've never kissed her in front of your friends, she might freak out. _

_It's not like everybody's staring. Actually they don't even seem to know we're in the room._

_You're still not in private. You're supposed to take it slow, what if she..._

My thoughts were cut off by a gentle touch on my cheek and a whisper in my ear.

"Santana..."

I turned my head to find blue eyes looking at me with a mixture of tenderness and want.

Brittany's warm lips were on mine, and as I felt her delicate hands around my neck and her tongue gently sliding inside of my mouth, all my concerns slipped away, forgotten.


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm back! And I'm bringing you the longest chapter so far... Enjoy, and please, please, please, keep sending me feedback! **

Sitting cross-legged on the couch, I was admiring my brand new Facebook profile picture.

Because of course, having become a lovey-dovey mess, I just HAD to substitute my old one with the photo of Britt and I at Rachel's house. I had harassed Quinn for a whole week until she had finally uploaded all the pictures she had taken, including the one that was currently at the top of my personal page.

Brittany had texted me not long after I had made the change, saying that we looked cute and that she wished she could tag herself in the picture but her cousins would have probably noticed it.

She had told me that although she had no intention on hiding from people, she didn't want her family to know about us yet, especially her father. I had reassured her that I completely understood and that I was fine with it, knowing that even if everything between us was going great she was still figuring things out after all.

On the good hand, she had totally shown me that PDA wasn't an issue.

The evening spent at Berry's place had ended with a one-hour-long makeout session, Brittany's legs thrown over my lap, my intertwined hands resting over her left hip, all the while we kissed slow and deep. At some point I had ventured myself on her neck, careful not to leave any mark (not yet anyway) as I gently sucked over a couple of sensitive spots, eliciting pleased giggles and small gasps from her throat. I had let my hands roam a bit over her body, caressing her back, her endless legs and gripping her toned thighs.

Of course, the whole affection exchange had felt pretty awesome, but it had also left me all hot and bothered, making me realize a problem was about to come to surface.

The absence of any sort of sexual release was really starting to affect me.

Even if I wasn't the crazy sex-addict that Quinn claimed I was, I had spent the last few years bringing a pretty girl in my bed at least once a week, and even more frequently when possible.

(And when I was really horny and drunk enough, she didn't even need to be THAT pretty.)

But my last sexual encounter dated back to a couple of days prior to my first online chat with Brittany, aka around a month ago, aka way too long ago for my usual standards.

Another important point to be made: beside sweet, smart, funny and adorable, Brittany was also absolutely hot. As if it wasn't already pretty obvious, I had been reminded of that the previous week.

Following Mike's advice, I had gone to the studio one day I knew Brittany was gonna be there. I had quickly reached the room where she was supposed to be exercising and found the door slightly ajar, the beat of a song finding its way into the corridor. I had slowly pushed it open and poked my head inside, having to hold back a gasp in a matter of seconds

Brittany was in the middle of a dance routine, oblivious to my presence. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, swaying back and forth as she moved along the rhythm of the music. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants that ended just below her knee, and her tank top had been rolled up, leaving her stomach and lower back completely exposed.

I had immediately thought that she was born to dance; she did every single move so effortlessly that it looked like the laws of physics didn't apply to her, and even her smallest motions were so graceful and natural that it almost felt like the music was following her and not the other way around.

The more I had kept staring, the more I had started noticing the perfect shape of her milky, smooth calves, the tightening of her well-defined abs, the layer of sweat on her lower back, only to grow more and more flustered by the second.

She had noticed me only when she was done with the routine, and she had immediately run towards me with a warm smile. I had instantly started blurting out a million compliments, aware of the fact that no words could describe my adoration for her dancing. I had pulled her to me and kissed her, ignoring her complaints about not wanting to cover me in her sweat, but I had sort of thanked God when she had left the room to go change, because even though I loved listening to her talking about anything, it was really hard to focus on her words all the while a single drop of sweat was slowly finding its way right in the valley between her breasts.

So yeah, basically my sexual frustration was driving me insane.

The only way I could manage to keep it under control was to constantly remind myself that I really wanted to make things right with Brittany, and that meant being very careful about respecting the boundaries. I didn't know anything about her experience regarding sex, but I did know she had never been with another girl before, so our first time was gonna be kind of a big deal in any case.

Also, there was a small part of me that was afraid that once she actually faced the idea of going all the way with me she would realize she wasn't actually into girls. Even though I hadn't known Britt for that long, I knew I was already way too into her to not be heartbroken if that ever happened.

I was lost in my thoughts when my phone started ringing; I took the call without checking who it was.

BIG MISTAKE.

"SANTANITA! I am so happy for you mija, it was about time! When am I going to meet her? And when were you planning on telling me anyway? Oh, you should call more often, I have told you a million times..."

I had forgotten that Brittany wasn't the only one whose family was on Facebook.

"Hi mom..."

"Hi mom? Is that all you have to say?"

"No, also, stop being nosy and stalking me on Facebook, or I'll unfriend you."

"Nonsense... Just tell me everything about the lovely girl!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Santana..."

I puffed loudly. "Fine. Her name is Brittany. She's 20, she lives in my neighbourhood and she works at the grocery store down the road. Happy?"

"Well, from what I can see you forgot to say she's one gorgeous lady... Are you behaving? You're 24, Santanita, it's time to stop messing around and start thinking about your future..."

"Ugh, I am gonna stop you right there because, first of all, nowadays people marry in their FORTIES so stop harassing me... Second of all, I am not seeing anybody else, only her, so you don't have to worry about it. I am serious about this..." I said with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.

"That's amazing! So, your dad and I were thinking we could come there in a couple of weeks, and I am pretty sure your grandmother will want to come and meet her too... I am not sure about your brother, though we all know how much Diego loves coming to New York..."

My eyes widened.

"WOAH, wait, what? No freaking way! We've just started dating, it's way, way too soon to do the whole... family thing!"

My mom was obviously very disappointed.

"Uff... Okay, but if you're still together by the holidays, you're gonna bring her here along with you!"

Even though I didn't want to admit it, I did like the idea.

"We'll see."

She let out a laugh. "Oh, Santanita, always so stubborn... We all miss you a lot."

"I miss you guys too..."

She kept me on the phone for a while, mostly asking me how was work and if I was eating enough and, of course, trying to make me spill more details about Brittany. When she realized she wasn't gonna get much more information, she started updating me about the all the news of the city I was born in, the one and only Lima. And since it was a small, unexciting town in Ohio, there was really no news to tell at all, besides somebody's cheating on their husband or some brawl at the last football game.

Eventually we said our goodbyes, and I hang up with the weird but welcome feeling that one more piece of the puzzle had fallen into its right place.

* * *

Days went by fast, and no matter how busy they could get, I always made sure that Brittany could fit in each and every one of them. Days became weeks, and between shared breakfasts, afternoons spent feeding the ducks at the park, evenings full of cuddles and walks back home full of kisses, I had almost forgotten about Brittany's father coming back home very soon, which was gonna bring a big change in our newfound routine.

She still seemed unaware of the problem though, so I didn't mention my worry out of fear of breaking the delicate, beautiful thing we had been able to build between us.

Relishing my current happiness made me forget a lot of other things. Quinn was there to remind me of that.

"Santana! The fridge is empty!" I heard her yell at me one evening as I was stepping out of my room, freshly showered and changed into comfy clothes.

"That's because you didn't buy any food?" I answered matter-of-factly.

She stared at me with wide eyes. "You're kidding me right? Because last time I checked, it was YOUR turn to buy groceries."

"What? That's not true!"

"Yes it is! You're at the store all the time, why can't you but some damn food?"

"Because I go there to see Brittany, not to buy your damn... strawberries or whatever!"

"So now we have nothing to eat because you have to spend all of your free time making out with your girlfriend?"

I instantly froze on the spot, really processing only one word of what Quinn had just said.

"She's not my girlfriend." I blurted out.

That seemed to distract Quinn from the food problem. She didn't look any less annoyed, though.

"Ehm... excuse me?"

"She's not my girlfriend." I said again. "I haven't... asked her. Not yet."

Quinn let out a laugh, looking like she couldn't believe what I was saying. "Santana, are you like... six?"

"Wha..."

"Brittany is totally your girlfriend. You guys are together all the time, completely into each other, and it's pretty obvious you're serious about her. Do you really need her to fill in an application to be able to say it's official?"

Quinn's words felt like a slap in the face. Was it possible that years of meaningless sex with random girls had made me forget everything about relationships and were currently preventing me from realizing that Brittany WAS effectively my girlfriend?

However it was, I had no intention on telling Quinn she was right. Not again.

"Whatever smartass. If you're so clever, think of something so we don't die of starvation."

"Santana, you're such a bitch!"

"And you're a whore!"

"I swear I'm gonna..."

_Toc toc toc._

Quinn stopped her motions, her index finger hanging mid-air and still pointing at me threatheningly. We both turned to the door wondering who it could be, since we hadn't buzzed anyone in. She sent me one last mad glance before walking to the door to greet our unknown visitor and I took a few steps into the living room in order to have a better look at whoever it was.

"Hello, ladies!"

My not-yet-a-girlfriend was standing at the doorstep with a plastic bag in her hand and a pretty smile on her face. She was make-up-free, wearing sweatpants and old sneakers, and her hair was pretty messy, yet she still looked stunning.

"Britt?" I asked, a bit confused but already grinning.

"Sorry for the knocking, the door downstairs was open and I just got in without buzzing. And your doorbell is broken. Anyway, I just finished cooking and I thought you guys could appreciate some homemade lasagna?" she asked, raising the plastic bag a little bit.

Quinn looked overjoyed at Brittany's words."You know what? I wanna marry this girl. Really, right now I just wanna kneel down and propose" she said.

Brittany showed a hint of a blush, but still giggled and answered playfully: "Well, I'm kinda taken, but I'm flattered."

"Oh, just come inside Britt..." I quickly told her, walking towards her with my arms outstretched. She handed her bag to Quinn, who took it avidly and settled it onto the kitchen counter in order to pull out the plastic bowls filled with the delicious food, then took a few steps inside and accepted my hug just after placing a light kiss on my lips.

"I get you girls are happy to see me?" Brittany asked once she had pulled back.

"Well, I always am, but we're also kinda short on food right now. We BOTH forgot to buy groceries this week..."

Quinn did some sort of half snort, but didn't say anything.

* * *

We were sitting at the kitchen table, our plates empty and our bellies full; "great cook" had been officially added to the long list of Brittany's qualities.

"After this dinner, I hope you'll still consider my proposal, Brittany. Really, Noah won't even mind once he gets a taste of this..." Quinn joked.

"I would totally mind" I interjected "but Quinn is right, this was AWESOME."

Brittany giggled. "Thanks... I was kinda forced to learn how to cook, you know. Dad is pretty old school, he'd rather starve to death than learn how to make himself something to eat..."

Even though it was meant to be a playful comment, there was some sort of sadness lingering behind Brittany's words, and not only because she had just hinted at her mother's premature death. Anyway, it lasted barely a few moments, because when Quinn started telling us about some awful cake she had eaten just a couple of days ago at some coworker's birthday party, Brittany was back to her cheerful mood. We washed and dried the dishes and the plastic bowls before my roommate announced she was gonna head to bed and read some magazines before going to sleep. She gave Britt a friendly hug and squeezed my shoulder lightly, before saying goodnight and disappearing behind her bedroom door.

"Come on Britt-Britt, let's go watch some tv."

We entered the living room and as I turned the tv on we both plopped down on the couch, immediately snuggling up to each other as we had grown accustomed to do in the past few weeks. I took the cover that usually rested under the pillows and threw it around us, before allowing myself to sink in Brittany's warmth. Even though I enjoyed our evenings out with friends, this was by far my favorite way of ending the day, with her body pressed up against mine and her gentle hands caressing my arms and my sides. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time.

Well, actually I did. Maybe not better, but just as good. But it wasn't really wise to think about it when Brittany was so close.

_Ugh, I'm gonna need another cold shower now._

"You know, I really like your house" said Brittany out of the blue, probably because she was even less entertained than me by the lame tv show we were watching. "It's super awesome. I could never afford a place like this..."

"Well, we don't have to pay the rent, actually. This place belonged to my dad's uncle... he had no kids, so it just ended up to my father." I said, playing with our intertwined fingers absentmindedly. " When I moved here with Quinn we made an agreement: since I didn't like the idea of my best friend paying me the rent, we decided she was gonna stay here for free and just buy all the furniture we needed. Which wasn't much anyway, just some stuff for the living room and her bed... But my parents wouldn't have accepted her money anyway" I stated with a smile. "Really, they were just thankful she was gonna be here with me and I wasn't gonna be completely alone in New York."

Britt seemed genuinely interested in the story. "And why did you decide to move here?"

"A lot of reasons. We figured that since we both didn't want to go to college this city would be the best place to find some good opportunities. We wanted to run away from the boredom of Lima, and is there a better place than NYC to feel alive?"

We both chuckled. Before I could help it, I said something I had never admitted to anyone beside my best friend and my parents.

"Also, I had this idea in my head... I wanted to make it as a writer."

I paused, feeling a bit foolish for saying that out loud after such a long time. But Brittany just kept staring at me, eager of knowing more, and I instantly decided I trusted her with my admission.

"I have always loved writing... I wanted it to be my job. And I thought that being in this city could give me more chances than staying in stupid Lima, especially since I had decided not to go to college. But then both Quinn and I found jobs, and I started liking to be a bartender, it made my life easy. I haven't written anything in years now..."

"Oh, San... I am sorry..."

"I'm not. I mean, yeah, my dream kinda crashed, but I don't feel like I failed. My life just took a different direction, and it's cool. I don't have regrets. Maybe one day I'll start writing again, who knows..."

Brittany stared at me for a few seconds, seeming like she was deep in thought, and then she stated simply: "If you do, I'll be your number one fan."

_You, wonderful, special human being._

I gave her a warm smile before kissing her forehead. "Thanks, Britt. But enough talking about me, you're waaaay more interesting!"

"I'm so not interesting... " she said shyly.

"Somebody's being modest... Right, I'll just have to ask you myself then. So, what does the 'S' in your name mean?" I asked, remembering it was something I still hadn't figure out since the day she had added me on Facebook.

"Haven't I told you?" She said, a bit surprised. "It's from my mother's name, Susan. When I was little I didn't like the idea of having two names, it got me confused. But now, I love seeing that 'S' written down... I feel like it's there to remind me that mom is always with me."

It really amazed how she seemed so peaceful whenever she spoke about her mother. There was no pain in her voice, just some sort of sad tenderness, almost like the memories of her were so special and perfect that there was no space left for grief.

"That's beautiful..." I murmured, feeling like more words would just ruin the moment. We kept silent for a while, the only sound coming from the television.

"I like your mom's name" Brittany stated again after a while. "Maribel Lopezzz" she said, in a forced Spanish accent that made me chuckle.

"I didn't even remember telling you, honestly... You've got a good memory!"

"Oh man, not at all... But I've worked super hard to remember everything you've told me, like all your family's names... " She started counting with her fingers as she kept listing things.

"...and that you were a cheerleader... no, wait, a "CHEERIO"... and that you've never had a pet... which is a super shame by the way..."

I could feel it bubble up from my chest, all the way to my throat.

"... that you never buy pajamas because you just wear normal clothes to bed..."

"Brittany..."

"... or that you love Alanis Morissette ..."

"Britt..."

"... and that you're a sucker for Italian food, which is why I brought lasagna by the way, and if you just give me a second I can think of many more, really,I mean..."

"Be my girlfriend?" I finally blurted out.

Brittany immediately stopped talking ant stared at me with an unreadable expression. I couldn't stand the silence, so I tried to fill it somehow, hoping to not make a fool out of myself. Not more than I feared I already had, anyway.

"I mean, you said it yourself, you already know me so well, and I think I know you just as much, and maybe this is useless because you're already past that point and you think about us as... together _together_, you know... but maybe not, and if you don't, I want you to. I mean , I'm asking if you want to, because I do. Together. Girlfriends. So yeah... Do you?"

_Wow, good job, now she's probably gonna stand up and run away again._

I was expecting the worst, but not what actually happened.

She started giggling.

At first they were soft giggles, but in a matter of seconds she just turned away from me and tried to suffocate them in a pillow, her shoulders visibly shaking.

I was kind of scared, honestly.

"Brittany! Come on, say something, please? Anything?" I asked, feeling a bit panicky.

After a minute or so she raised her head again, trying to fight the fit of giggles and to speak. "Oh my God..." she murmured, covering her mouth. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked back at me. She probably noticed my growing anxiety in a matter of seconds.

"Sorry, San, it's just... God... It's crazy weird to hear that, that's all. No wait, I mean... Good crazy!" She quickly added, because by that time my eyes were definitely showing just plain terror. "I just never thought that... Like, if I think back to... oh yes, I want to. So much."

That shook me out of my trance. "Yes?"

"Yes."

"Yes!" I nearly shouted, not caring about looking pathetic anymore, and I kind of tackled her down on the couch before starting to plant kisses all over her face. "Jesus, I was about to have a heart attack..."

She put her hands on my cheek to steady my face before placing a firm kiss to my lips. "Sorry, it just... seemed a movie scene or something... kinda unreal..."

"Was that dumb?" I asked between kisses.

She pulled back a little bit, and shook her head, her smile making me melt in an instant. "That was super sweet."

I finally relaxed into Brittany's kisses and lowered myself until I was laying on top of her, propped up on my elbows, her hands still on my face and our legs tangled together.

We kissed and kissed and kissed, and soon those happy, careless kisses became heated, passionate ones. I tried my best not to rush them, as our tongues played with each other in slow, deep strokes, but it was growing more difficult by the second, mostly thanks to the amount of sexual frustration I had built up during the last month. Trying to keep it under control would have required a certain amount of awareness that I just couldn't maintain, especially since Brittany seemed to be as lost and fervent as I was.

The moment I felt her hips lightly pushing against mine I gave in.

I moved from her lips and started kissing along her jaw line until my mouth landed on her neck, searching just for the right spot. When a particular nip made her squirm, I knew I had found it. I started licking and sucking there, well aware that this time I was definitely gonna leave a mark.

The air in the room became so much hotter when a louder gasp came from Brittany's throat, immediately followed by her hips jolting upwards again. I really couldn't think straight anymore, and I started thrusting downwards against her pelvis.

Brittany tangled her hand in my hair and pulled just a little bit to make me raise my head from her neck. Our eyes met for a brief second, and I let out a big gulp at the sight, right before she reconnected our lips. All control being lost, the kisses were now wet and almost frantic, and I could feel a familiar knot forming in my lower belly, begging for attention.

Still kissing me vigorously, Brittany reached for my left hand and, much to my surprise, guided it underneath her hoodie. The moment I felt nothing but bare skin against the palm of my hand, I moaned into her mouth, registering only in the very far back of my mind that I was getting so worked up for an almost innocent touch. I began to brush my fingers against her ribs, down towards the curve of her hip, then flattened my hand against her abdomen, tracing patterns over her abs. As she raised her hips again, I slipped my other arm between her back and the couch, so I was completely flush against her.

Without thinking, I let my left hand roam lower and lower on her stomach until I met the waistband of her sweatpants and, caught up in the moment, I started slipping my fingers underneath it.

I suddenly felt a tight grip on my wrist, stopping my motions.

"No...wait..." Brittany mumbled, breaking our kiss and lightly pushing against my shoulders. It took me a second to process what was happening, but then I got the hint and got away from her; I sat upright on the couch and she immediately did the same.

"Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?" I asked her, concerned.

She started fidgeting with her hands. "No, no, it's not you.. I just... ugh, I'm so stupid..."

"Britt, please calm down..." I carefully put my hand on her arm, feeling relieved when she didn't flinch or retract it. "Can you tell me what's wrong, please?"

She answered without looking at me. "I... can't do this. I mean, I want to, so much, but it would be a disaster..."

"Listen, if it's because you've never been with another girl, don't worry okay? I get it, we don't have to do anything if you don't want to, but just know..."

"It's not just that..." She interrupted me. "It's not because I am not experienced with girls. I'm just... not experienced at all."

"Oh."

Maybe that didn't come totally unexpected, but I still didn't know how to react. I struggled to find the right words to say, but before I could speak she started again, finally looking at me.

"I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have led you on in that way... It felt nice, and I thought that maybe we should do it because this might be the last chance we have to be alone in a while, since dad comes back home tomorrow night, and it's gonna be more complicated and stuff. But then I panicked and... I'm not sure I can force myself to be ready..."

She sounded like she was pleading, almost begging for forgiveness, and I realized my silence was making her think wrong stuff.

"Brittany, you don't have to apologize. I understand, really. "I said in a calm voice, cupping her cheek. "You're absolutely right, we don't have to rush this if you feel uncomfortable. We'll have plenty more opportunities, and we can wait for as long as you want."

"So you're not mad at me?" she asked in a small voice.

"Of course not! Why would I be mad? I know it's kind of a big deal for you. And even if I'm really, really attracted to you, I promise I will never push for anything."

I finally saw the hint of a smile on her lips, and I naturally smiled back.

"And if one day you'll be sure that you want me to be your first, I will be more than happy to take care of you. Whenever you'll feel ready."

_Who the hell are you and what happened to Santana Lopez? _

At that point she was grinning widely and in a matter of seconds her arms were around me again, as she pressed a few short kisses on my lips.

"You're the best girlfriend in the world."

I felt like my heart was about to burst , because never in my life I had thought I would hear those words referred to me. And yet I couldn't do anything but believe them, because how could I doubt something coming from the most brilliant, wonderful, special girl in the world?

We fell back against the couch, fixing the cover around us again and holding each other tightly. I felt a sense of peace wash over me, despite our previous activities.

"Britt?" I started again after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I know I've already told you, but I think it's pretty amazing how easily you're dealing with this whole... girl thing. Is it really not an issue at all?"

She chuckled. "Kurt keeps asking me the same thing."

"And what do you say to him?"

"That it's not. I mean, I freaked out a little bit at the beginning, and I'm pretty sure you remember that... But then I realized it was stupid to be scared of something I enjoyed so much."

She grabbed my hand and started rubbing her thumb over my knuckles.

"When I met Kurt and we started getting along, I thought it was a miracle, because I hadn't been able to make a single friend since I had moved here, you know... being all shy and everything. And then you came along, and it was even better, because even if I trust both you and Kurt the same, with you I really feel like I matter. I don't dislike myself anymore, because if someone as smart and amazing as you wants to do nice things for me, maybe I'm not that bad... maybe I deserve them after all."

"You deserve much more, Britt. You deserve the best." I quickly told her, so many feelings meeting up inside of my chest.

"You see? You say that, and I'm actually strong enough to believe it. So that's why It doesn't bother me to think that I've fallen for another girl. Because you're not just a girl... You're Santana, and Brittany wouldn't be the same without Santana."

I could feel a lump in my throat, the emotion nearly preventing me to speak.

I hadn't felt that way in years.

Brittany was there, looking at me with her honest blue eyes and a smile that could light up the entire world.

In that moment it occurred to me that fate had decided to give me a gift that I probably didn't deserve, but I vowed to cherish it for as long as I could.

Gathering up all the strength I could find, I told her, my voice barely more than a whisper:

"Santana wouldn't be the same without Brittany, either."

* * *

**I don't mean to ruin the emotional ending but... If you guys were wondering, when I pictured Brittany dancing in the studio I thought about her rehearsing her routine over this song (mostly because the lyrics are kinda fitting for Santana's feelings at that moment :-P):**

**Karmin - Gasoline**

** watch?v=ej0i1RS_TOk**


	17. Chapter 17

**More than 200 followers and more than 100 reviews... I know they're still far from big numbers, but I'm speechless! You people are the best! **

**And yes, this chapter is a bit short, but I REALLY, REALLY couldn't put this and the next one together... You'll discover why soon ;-)**

**Enjoy!**

**Puck: **** we're outside **

_To Puck:_ ** be down in a sec**

I grabbed my bag, checked myself in the mirror one last time and headed out of my house and down the stairs. Once I was out on the sidewalk, I quickly spotted Puck and Sam waiting for me inside of Sam's car, parked not far from my building, and jogged in their direction.

"Hey girl!" Sam greeted me as soon as I hopped in the backseat.

That same morning they had convinced me to join them for a small workout session at the gym; I hadn't been there in a while so I had accepted pretty gladly, but I had no idea why they had invited me to go with them. Well, Puck had mentioned something about it being "buddies bonding time", statement that I had once again ignored for his own sake.

"Hey chica, wassup?" Puck asked, turning back towards me, his usual silly grin plastered over his face. "I was just telling Sam that you look awesome today!" he said as we left the parking spot and pulled onto the road.

"Absolutely glowing." Sam added with a nod of his head.

"What do you want, you ass-lickers?" I asked, much more amused than annoyed.

"You should work on how to take a compliment, Santana..." Puck answered, but the smirk on his face was totally giving him away. As I had expected, they needed a favor. A big one, judging by their poor attempt of flattery.

I just leaned back against my seat, already knowing that no matter what those two fools had in mind, I was gonna help them out, probably not before a good dose of mocking and teasing.

* * *

I was running on the treadmill when I got tired of my friends' sideway glances and just decided to end their agony. I turned the machinery off and walked towards them, smirking lightly when I saw them quickly diverting their gaze from me and pretending to be very taken by their weightlifting. I fell down on a bench just beside them. "Okay guys, what is it?"

"What's what?" Sam asked, showing how much of a bad actor he was.

"Oh please, just spill it already, I don't have all day..."

They looked at each other for a second, then Puck nodded and put down the weights, his actions quickly mirrored by Sam. They scooted further down their own benches until they were sitting close enough in front of me; I couldn't help but notice how they looked both embarrassed and excited at the same time.

"So..." Noah started "the other day we were talking about... men stuff. You know, girls and all... Our girls. And it occurred that we might have the same problem regarding them..."

"Our intimate moments with them" Sam blurted out in addition.

My eyes widened slightly. "And that has something to do with me because...?"

"Because... We need your advice." Sam said, a dark shape of red coloring his ears.

"You see, we have noticed that both Quinn and 'Cedes might not be really satisfied with our... foreplay" Puck continued.

I instantly understood where they were headed. "Oh God, no no no... I don't wanna hear any of this..."

"Santana, please!" they said in unison, and immediately started glancing around to make sure nobody had heard them.

"Please" Sam told me in a lower voice "just a little help?"

I stared at them for a few seconds, still wondering if they were joking or not, but when I saw their pleading looks I could only let out a resigned sigh. "Fine, but spare the graphic details, ok?"

"Right!" Puck said excited. "So, it's obvious that you're lacking certain... stuff... so you have to draw upon other ways to please a lady. And we all know you do that pretty well, so we would be really, really grateful if you could give away some of your... tricks. As in, oral tricks." Sam kept staring down, red as a tomato, nodding at Puck's words, who was starting to grow more and more comfortable with the topic of conversation, instead.

I wished I could feel the same way, though.

"Okay, do you realize this is all kinds of weird right?"

Their pleading looks told me that they did realize it, but still wanted my "advice".

I looked around us and found that there were no people near enough to hear our conversation as long as we kept our voices moderately quiet. I had to admit that I was pretty flattered by the idea that they considered me an authority in this field; I rolled my eyes and spoke up again.

"I'll try to be as general as possible and ignore the fact that we're talking about two of my best friends. But I do need to know a bit more about your 'problems' if you want me to help."

At this point Puck had completely forgotten the embarrassment. Sam just let him do all the talk and listened carefully, nodding here and there, his ears never going back to their original color. After a good twenty minutes of "but sometimes it tastes funny" and "why would you even think about putting a finger there" we finally managed to end the conversation, as the guys seemed pretty satisfied with all the information I had given out. I was glad it was over, but my ego had gotten a huge boost out of that.

_Now I know why all those straight girls kept running back to me._

"Thank you again, chica, really" Puck told me a while later, as we were waiting for Sam to get out of the changing room. "I owe you one. If you need anything, just ask your bro."

That reminded me of something I needed help with, but didn't feel comfortable enough to talk about with my female friends.

_Maybe Puck is right. Sometimes you're kind of a dude._

I mentally slapped myself for having that thought before addressing him.

"Well, there is something I wanted to ask you. I would go to Quinn or Tina, but they wouldn't understand. I mean, usually they are... on the opposite side of where I stand now. They would just tell me I am gross."

"No problem. Spill it."

"Uhm... So, I know Quinn, and even though you guys obviously do more than holding hands right now, I'm pretty sure it took you a while to get there... Like, I totally know she can be pretty uptight about sex."

Puck seemed a bit confused. "Well, yeah, at the beginning, but right now we are doing great... just because I asked you it doesn't mean..."

"No, no, listen. It's just that... I was wondering... how did you handle the wait?" I asked, rushing out the second part so much that I was actually surprised to realize he had understood my words.

His eyes widened in realization and that damn smirk reappeared on his lips. "You're not getting any, are you?"

"Well... I wouldn't put it like that but..."

"No friggin' way! The sex beast has been tamed!"

_Why would you even think this was a good idea..._

"Whatever...Thank you so much, Puck!" I said angrily, turning around with the intention of going outside. Noah probably realized that he had been inappropriate, because he quickly grabbed me by the elbow and spun me around to face him again.

"Hey, wait... I'm sorry!"

I snorted, but didn't move.

"Really, I'm sorry, I said I'd help you with anything and I will. I was just... surprised, that's all. Don't be mad please?"

I knew him well enough to say he meant it. He was kind-hearted, he just needed a filter between his brain and his mouth from time to time.

"I'm not mad." I finally said. "And I can't believe it either, but... You know, I want Brittany to be comfortable, so I'm not pushing." I trusted Puck, but I wanted to keep the details of our situation by ourselves, mostly not to disrespect my girlfriend and give away private information about her, so I didn't mention the whole first time issue.

"I understand... As you already said, it was the same for me and Quinn back in the day. But you're doing the right thing, lil' one is a pretty special chick."

I grinned at what had become Puck's nickname for Brittany. "She is. But I'm going nuts, and I really can't keep taking three showers a day..."

He chuckled lightly. "Well, I'm afraid there's no other remedy. It's either that or porn."

"Ew, no way... I mean, it's not cheating, but I would feel dirty doing... that... behind her back. Seriously Puck, I need to know how you put up with it."

He stared at me for a second with a slight smile and an unreadable expression. "I'll tell you this, Lopez... There's only one thing that kept me from going crazy. Focus on that, and you'll get through it."

"And that is...?"

"Knowing that once the wait is over, you'll experience the best feeling in the world. You'll get to have sex with the person you love, and it will be so perfect that you'll forget about how hard it was to get there."

I wanted to mock him, to tell him that I didn't know he had become such a softie, but instead I just stood freezed on the spot, unable to say a word. In that moment Sam came out of the changing room and Puck put an arm around my shoulders, guiding me outside and towards the car. He glanced at me with a small, kind smile, probably knowing that I was processing what he had just told me.

And I totally was. Because there was no way I could ignore what he had hinted at.

I didn't say a word for the whole ride back home, I just kept staring out of the window without really seeing anything; my brain was too focused on replaying that huge, scary word in my head over and over again.

* * *

_To Britt: _**Hey babe :***

**Britt: ****O_O**

_To Britt: _**What? You okay?**

**Britt: ****yes... that was my face rn**

_To Britt:_ **Not sure I get it**

**Britt:**** u called me babe**

_To Britt: _**So you lost your nose and your pupils because of that? :P**

**Britt:**** yes**

**Britt: **** also I'm blushing really hard**

_To Britt:_ **Aw, BrittBritt :3 Everything fine today?**

Instead of texting me back, she just decided to call me. I picked up immediately.

"Hey..."

"San, I've got some news!" Brittany said with an excited voice.

"Yeah? Spill it."

"Dad won't be home both Friday and Saturday... They're making him take some two-days course about on-the-job safety. They've got a training out of town, with a night at the hotel already paid and everything. So..."

"I'm totally taking you out for dinner." I quickly cut her off.

That was actually awesome news, because since her father had come back home we hadn't been able to see each other a lot, let alone go out on a proper date. He hadn't had a night shift in a while, which meant I had gotten to see Brittany only for some shared breakfasts and for a couple of hours in the afternoon on her free day.

"You're not working, are you?" She asked.

"Nope. I'm on the morning shift on Friday and I've got Saturday free. Looks like we've been lucky for once..."

I heard her let out a sigh on the other end of the phone. "I'm sorry... I told you this was gonna suck."

"You don't have to apologize... It sucks, but it's not your fault. And you're totally worth it, baby."

"You did it again!" She said with a giggle, and by the tone of her voice I could totally picture her blushing.

"Did what, sugar?" I asked playfully.

"Oh my God..."

" I didn't know you had something against pet names, Britt" I told her, chuckling.

"I don't... It's just weird, cause I've never been called that"

"Wow, that Chicago dude must have been a pretty crappy boyfriend."

"Well, he kinda was... But I've come to realize it only now that I'm with you."'

For the millionth time since I had met Brittany, my heart skipped a beat, a familiar warmth already spreading all over my chest. I wondered if she had felt the same way when I had called her "baby", or if she generally did whenever I told her sweet things.

_It can't be. I mean, she can't feel it too, it must be some sort of Brittany-effect._

"You know, Britt, I think I should go to bed before I melt on the spot..."

I could tell that it made her smile again. "Yeah, me too..."

"Goodnight, Britt Britt."

"Goodnight. Can't wait to see you on Friday... _baby."_

_Yeah, that's totally just a Brittany- effect._

_I mean, it's not like you're in love with her and you're hoping she feels the same way about you._

_Definitely not. _


	18. Chapter 18

**Tough, tough one... I'll comment at the end. Hope you appreciate it as usual :-)**

Instead of going to a restaurant, I had managed to convince Brittany to let me cook for her and have dinner at my place, and then decide on the spot if we wanted to head out or just stay home. She had agreed once I had guaranteed that it wasn't gonna cause any trouble to Quinn since she had plans anyway.

Now I just needed to convince my roommate to actually make plans and stay out of our way.

"Well, I guess I could just sleep at Noah's place so I don't have to worry about what time is the right time to come back home..." Quinn told me right as she dipped her fork into the omelet I had just brought her. On Friday morning she had decided to have a bite at Schuester's before going to work; that had given me the opportunity to bribe her with a free breakfast.

"That would be perfect, honestly. And if Puck has something to say about it, remind him he still owes me a favor."

Quinn eyed me curiously, but didn't question me about it. "I don't think he will mind at all. Actually, these past couple of days he's been pushing a lot for some alone time..."

I instantly figured out why and let out a chuckle.

"Well, means that after tonight you're gonna owe me a favor too, Fabray" I said with a smirk.

"What? Santana, you're being weird. You must really miss your girl..." She teased me.

"Not even trying to deny it" I told her, walking back towards the counter.

Ten minutes later Quinn was finished with her breakfast and waved at me as she stepped outside. I dried the last couple of dishes and pulled out my phone in order to write a text.

_To Puck:_** Thanks to me you will have your girl all for yourself tonight. Good luck buddy ;-)**

He answered only a few minutes later.

**Puck:**** Claiming the house for yourself, huh? Then good luck to you too XD**

I shut my phone screen off and toyed with it for a while as I felt a cloud of thoughts settle inside of my head.

I honestly hadn't thought about it when I had invited Brittany to come over, but seeing how quickly Puck had assumed we were gonna have sex had awakened a few worries in me. Had Brittany assumed the same thing? I had insisted on having dinner at my place just because we hadn't been able to spend some time together properly in a while, and since we now had the chance I didn't want any distractions.

I wanted her all for myself, yes, but not in _that _way.

Well, not NECESSARILY in that way.

We had approached the issue barely a week ago, so it was pretty stupid of me to even think that Brittany could have made up her mind about it. But now that the idea had found its way inside of my head I was going insane.

_What if she wants to do it? I'm already so freaking worked up at the thought, I'm gonna die for sure._

_Yeah, and if she doesn't want to you're gonna die for the same reason . Both ways, you're screwed._

_I WISH._

_Oh, God, I can't believe you just said that._

_Well, more like thought that. Wait... I didn't say it out loud, right?_

"Santana, can you give me a hand here?" I heard Sam asking from the kitchen.

I snapped out of my thoughts and reached the kitchen door.

As I walked towards him I realized I was probably just being paranoid, because if Brittany had really thought I had suggested to stay home so we could have sex, then I would have probably noticed by her behavior. She would have been pretty anxious about it in any case, and she wasn't really good at hiding her emotions; but when we had spoken over the phone she had been her usual self, no signs of anxiety or anything.

So yeah, I was totally worried for no reason.

_And that's why tonight you're gonna act like a total weirdo and Brittany will be completely clueless. Good job, Lopez._

* * *

I was halfway through the making of my legendary mashed potatoes when I heard a buzzing. I quickly wiped my hands on a cloth and reached for the intercom.

"Britt?"

"Yup!"

"Imma buzz you in!"

Once I had opened the main door for her, I went to unlock my apartment door too and waited for her on the doorstep. In a matter of seconds she appeared from the stairs, her coat already off and hanging on one of her arms, a bottle of wine in her free hand. I took in her attire, consisting of a pair of tight red pants, ankle-high black boots and, standing out particularly, a loose white t-shirt, worn so that one of her shoulders was exposed, with the sentence "I flew here on my unicorn" printed in black letters on it.

I would have probably looked like a moron wearing something like that, but she managed to look absolutely flawless, instead.

Actually, I found it pretty hot.

"Looking pretty..." she said with a smile as she approached me. I was wearing a pretty simple black dress with white details. I was currently shoeless, since I had made it a rule to never wear any inside of the house in order to avoid ruining the wooden floor.

"I was about to say the same" I told her with a grin, right before welcoming her with a kiss on her lips. "Here, give me these..." I took her coat and the bottle from her hands and hanged the first one on the hook beside the door as she took her shoes off, already familiar with my no-shoes rule. I then eyed the other item and asked: "Hey, how did you get this? I'm pretty sure you're underage..." I added playfully.

"Yeah well... the benefits of working at the store..." she answered as she followed me to the kitchen.

In no time our dinner was ready. Brittany offered to help but I just made her sit down at the table and filled our plates with roast beef and potatoes. "Yumm... that smells delicious..." she said eyeing the food.

"Well, help yourself, Britt."

We started eating our meal in a comfortable silence, but at one point I noticed her expression had changed slightly, like she was deep in thought.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"...huh? Oh yeah, sorry..." I watched her play with her fork for a few seconds before she looked up at me. "It's just... I need to tell you something."

"Of course. What is it?" I asked, trying my best to hide my growing panic.

"Mike called me this morning and... he offered me a job."

"What?! Britt, that's amazing!" I nearly shouted, a wave of relief washing over me, the previous panic being replaced with happiness. "He wants you to teach or...?"

"Yeah. He's just started a few new courses for kids and the other day I saw he was having a hard time dealing with all those little fellas at once." She explained with a hint of a smile. "I'm good with kids, so I offered my help. All I know is that once the lesson was over, he kept saying that he should really hire somebody to take care of the new courses because he can't teach them all by himself. And then this morning he called me and said that he'd really like me to consider the idea of working at the studio."

"Oh my God, Britt..." I stood up and went over to her, pulling her in a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

But when I pulled back, I noticed she wasn't even smiling anymore.

"Wait... Isn't that a good thing?" I asked, keeping my hands on her shoulders.

"It is. It's... a dream. But my dad is never gonna let me take the job."

As I saw her eyes filling with sadness, I felt my heart aching.

"But why not?"

"Because he says I'm too grown up to still be thinking about dancing. He doesn't care about what I do in my free time, as long as I keep being after the house and stuff... But there's no way I could go and tell him I want to quit my job to teach dance classes. "

"What? But that's bullshit... You're the best dancer I've ever seen!" I really didn't get it. "And you'd be an awesome teacher. It's not his choice to make, Britt."

"I know, but what am I supposed to do? I still live under his roof you know..."

When I saw a single tear fall down her cheek I felt the urge to pull her close again. She rested her head on my shoulder and I started caressing the back of her head soothingly.

After a few minutes she raised her head again and grabbed both of my hands.

"I'm sorry San, I didn't want to ruin the evening..." she said, staring at me deeply.

"You didn't ruin anything." I told her back, cupping her cheek. "You can talk to me about anything at any time, okay?"

She nodded and I leaned in to press a soft kiss to her lips. "Listen... Why don't you try and talk to your dad about it once he gets home?"

"No, no, I can't..." she immediately shook her head.

"What's the worst that can happen? If you don't even try you have already lost your cause."

Brittany looked at me and bit her lip. "I guess... I could give it a try maybe." She seemed really unsure, so a thought crossed my mind.

"Do you... want me to be there when you tell him? Could it help? I mean, we can just tell him I'm a friend..."

"Would you really do that?" she asked almost in disbelief.

"Of course."

_Santana Lopez, you're officially insane._

"It would mean the world to me... Thank you so much!" Brittany said as she threw her arms around my shoulders.

"So it's settled." I said pulling back just enough to look at her. "We're gonna convince him you're the best dance teacher that ever existed. Together. Okay?"

Her usual big, beautiful smile was finally back on her face. "Okay" she said as she rested her forehead against mine.

"Good. Now I say, we stop worrying about it, you go sit in the living room and imma be there in no time with the dessert and some wine."

"Sounds perfect..." She said giggling, before giving me a quick peck. "But I'm gonna help you, cause there's no way you'll be able to carry everything by yourself."

Seeing Brittany back in a good mood was a huge relief. I should have probably been worried about the fact that in the next few days I was gonna have to face her father, but in that moment all I could think about was how to enjoy to rest of the evening with my wonderful girlfriend.

I filled two small bowls with ice-cream and strawberries, all the while Brittany poured the wine into our glasses. She then took them and headed towards the couch, and as she walked away I couldn't help but stare at her slender figure. When I slightly raised my gaze, I noticed she was looking back at me, and before I could even start feeling embarrassed for having been caught, she sent me a shy smile and licked her lips.

She had barely poked her tongue out at all, and it looked like she hadn't even done it on purpose, but that had been more than enough to get me all flustered. Also, all the thoughts from the previous morning had instantly come back to cloud my mind. What if she...?

_No, Santana, no. Don't ruin it. _

I shook my head and inhaled deeply. I wasn't gonna act like a stupid horndog. I was a grown-ass woman, I could deal with it. I then grabbed the bowls and made my way to the living room, where Brittany was waiting for me on the couch.

* * *

Using strawberries for the dessert turned out to be a pretty bad idea.

Every time Brittany brought one of them to her mouth and took a bite I had to keep myself from gulping too loudly, my mind running wild and my insides twitching as I watched her wrapping her lips around it and sucking lightly to keep the juice from dribbling down her hands.

_Nice choice of words there._

I had only one strawberry in my bowl, but I had decided to ignore it and instead just focused on the ice-cream, hoping its coolness could help calming me down a little bit. If I had been in that situation with one of the girls I used to hook up with, I would have probably found some sexual innuendo about either strawberries or ice-cream that would have led to a naked, horny woman in my bed in no time.

But of course, this was different.

_She's not some chick._

_She's Brittany._

_Your girlfriend Brittany. _

_And you love her._

_..._

_Wait, WHAT?_

"You're not eating that, San?" Brittany suddenly asked. It took me a good minute to realize that I was supposed to answer. I looked down at her hand that was pointing at my single strawberry that I had left behind.

"No, you can have it..." I finally managed to say. My voice sounded funny, but she didn't seem to notice. She took it from my bowl and bit on it; she released the half that was still in her hand with a wet pop, and since that apparently wasn't enough to make me faint, she let out a low moan.

"Mmm... These are really good..."

I probably looked completely insane, because when she turned to me again she asked: "Uhm... Is everything okay? Do I have... ice-cream on my face or...?"

"NO!" I nearly shouted. "I mean, no, no, I was just thinking that... we should toast!"

That was totally lame, and probably weird too, but she didn't question it as she happily took her glass. "To what?"

_Shit. _"Oh, uhm... I don't know. To whatever you like, I guess."

"I like you."

"I can't toast to myself, Britt..."

"Then to your mashed potatoes, cause they were pretty awesome."

That made me smile, and I finally started to relax a little bit. "To my mashed potatoes!"

Our glasses briefly met in mid-air before we took a sip of wine. Brittany then grabbed them both and set them down on the coffee table before wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on my shoulder. I slowly rubbed her back and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"...'tana?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we just stay home and snuggle? I don't feel like going out..."

"Sure, baby..."

She turned her head slightly to look at me, an unreadable expression written on her face. I expected her to say something about me calling her with sweet names again; instead she just leaned in and connected her lips to mine, at first just pressing firmly. I gladly returned the kiss, and soon I was allowed full access to her mouth; I could taste ice-cream and strawberries on her tongue, and they made the usual sweetness of her kisses even more intoxicating.

Again, I was quickly losing control.

She sat up a little, never breaking the kiss, and gripped the back of my neck, her other hand still on my waist. I grabbed her hips and pulled her slightly into me, so I was leaning against the backrest of the couch and she was leaning against me with the upper part of her body. She tentatively lowered her kisses to my neck, eliciting a loud gasp from my throat. I was about to drown in the feeling of her tongue over my pulse point when an alarm bell rang inside of my head.

_We should stop. We'll end up like last time._

"Britt..." I was barely able to say, because in that exact moment she decided to make a bold move and straddled me, all the while connecting our mouths again. I let out a loud moan, crossing my arms around her waist and kissing her passionately. But the alarm bell went off again, and with my very last strand of willpower I broke our kiss and looked at her, our faces only inches apart. "Britt..." I said again, panting "we really should stop..."

"Santana" she whispered against my lips. "I want to do it..."

My eyes widened nearly comically. "What?"

"Yeah..." she said sheepishly.

So I had actually heard right."But... we talked about it only a few days ago... I don't... Just because we're alone... It's not why I told you to come over."

"I know. But I thought about it..." I noticed she was all flushed, and her voice was a bit unsteady, but she didn't stop. " I'll never feel completely ready... But I trust you, and I know there will never be a better moment than now, here and with you..."

I could barely believe what I was hearing. "Are you sure?"

She bit her lip.

"Yes."

I stared at her for a few seconds and as she held my gaze I realized she was serious about it. I smiled at her.

"Let's go to my room..."

We both rose to our feet and I didn't lose any more time; I grabbed her hand and guided her towards my bedroom. The moment I closed the door behind us, I felt my arousal take over; I pulled her to me and crashed our lips together, my hands roaming freely over her upper body. I was craving for her, and that feeling kept growing with each kiss and touch. I started licking and biting on her neck, all the while my hands found their way under her t-shirt to feel the soft skin on her back.

Of course Brittany had let me take the lead, and she kept trying to keep up with my frantic movements, but as she was flush against me I started to feel she wasn't comfortable at all.

_Santana, what the hell are you doing?_

My eyes shot open, and immediately stopped my motions. I pulled back and looked into Brittany's eyes.

"Brittany, I am so sorry..."

"What? Why?" she asked, genuinely confused by my behavior.

"I'm doing it all wrong. This should be about you, and I'm just rushing everything. I was making you uncomfortable..." I told her, looking down. I felt incredibly stupid.

"Oh... But, it's okay, I mean... I guess I just don't really know what I'm supposed to do... I'm very nervous, Santana." She said honestly.

I took her hands and intertwined our fingers, before raising my stare to look into her eyes. I saw bashfulness and jitteriness, but most of all, trust.

"That's why it shouldn't be like this. I said I would take care of you and I will. Let me try again, please?"

She smiled softly. "Of course."

I wrapped my arms back around her, feeling her do the same as I leaned in to kiss her. This time I kept massaging her lips slowly, and much to my surprise I didn't find it too difficult to keep it under control as a familiar warmth started spreading through my chest, mixing up with my desire to create a feeling I really couldn't name. All I could tell was that it was new, and unexpected, and wonderful.

"We'll take it nice and slow..." I mumbled against her lips, having pulled back barely an inch."And if something feels wrong, just tell me and we'll stop. You don't have to do anything you don't feel completely comfortable about, okay?"

"Yes, okay..." she whispered back. She closed the gap between our mouths and I could feel her relax a bit more in my arms. We just kept kissing for a while, our tongues tangling together, our lips barely parting every time we needed to take a breath.

I tugged at the bottom of her t-shirt, and as she lifted her arms to let me take it off I could tell she was getting tense again. I guided her towards the bed, and before laying down with her I took off my own dress; it felt more than simply undressing, though. It felt like silently telling her not to be afraid, because in that moment I was exposing myself just as much as she was, both physically and emotionally.

I lowered myself on the bed next to her, finally taking in the sight of her nearly naked torso. I took my time in exploring her skin, caressing over her ribs and her toned stomach. When I leaned down to kiss her again I felt her hands tentatively stroking at my sides and then reaching for the skin on my back. I shivered at the contact and moaned lightly.

She let out a hum when I detached my lips from hers, but it quickly turned into a gasp when she felt them on her stomach, as I sucked and licked on her naked abs. A small shiver ran through her body when I unbuttoned her pants and lowered the zip; I looked up at her, waiting for permission to continue, but resumed my actions when she started helping me remove them. Once I had completely pulled them down her legs I noticed her knee-high red socks. I glanced at her again and we smiled to each other briefly; I then pressed my lips to the inside of her right knee and left a trail of kisses over her calf and down to her ankle as I slowly took the garment off. I mirrored my actions with the left one, before going back to eye level with her.

"You're so beautiful..." I murmured against her lips, my hands now resting on her thighs. She moved her head to the side and started planting kisses on my jawline, then reached my pulse point, where she began to suck and nibble. I closed my eyes in pleasure, my grasp on her legs tightening.

Our actions had slightly picked up speed, but even if I was literally burning with desire I didn't feel the need to rush them anymore, being way too into this new, intimate game of savoring and discovery. I was now laying half on top of her, and the skin-on-skin contact made me feel like our bodies were meant to mold together, milk against chocolate.

My mouth started wandering lower again, from her collarbone down to the top of her breasts. Brittany had one hand on the back of my head, and the closer I got to her chest, the more she arched her back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. I wiggled my hand between her back and the mattress to undo her bra, but I couldn't find the clip; as I kept fumbling and struggling, I heard her giggle.

"Santana..." she said in a soft voice. I glanced at her and she stared back at me with a bashful smile, then she grabbed my wrist and guided my hand from behind her to the middle of her chest , until my fingertips were brushing against the juncture of the cups of her bra. I felt a small clip under my index finger.

I almost wanted to slap my own forehead, but fortunately I was so into the moment that I quickly got over the awkwardness and focused back on my actions. In a single move I undid the front clasp so that the bra fell open, allowing me to take in the full sight of her round breasts. As I saw her hesitating, I helped her out of it while I kept placing kisses over her lips; I guided her back to down to the mattress and landed a gentle kiss in the middle of her chest, instantly feeling her shiver beneath me. I cupped one of her breasts with my hand and I felt a wave of pleasure rushing through me; its soft shape fit perfectly in the palm of my hand. Small whimpers began to escape from Brittany's throat as I started rubbing my thumb over her nipple, and then kissing and sucking all over her left breast.

"Mmm... yes..." she murmured in a very low voice, tightening her grip on my neck. I interrupted my trail of kisses and took her left nipple in my mouth, sucking on it all the while I traced small circles with my tongue over it. That elicited a full moan from her, and hearing that sweet sound brought my arousal to a whole new level.

I kept my face buried in her chest for a while, almost getting lost in it, but when I realized she was just as in bliss as I was and eagerly arching into my touch, no trace of her previous nervousness, I slowly lowered my hand until I reached the waistband of her underwear. Her eyes shot open.

"Wait..."

I instantly stilled my whole body and looked at Brittany's face. Her eyes were now revealing how tense she was again; she was breathing heavily and she seemed to be struggling to find the right words she wanted to say. I was already prepared to hear her tell me that she didn't want to go any further...

"Can we go under the covers, maybe?"

I felt a smile tugging at my lips. "Sure."

I sat up a little and managed to pull the blanket over us. I was pretty sure it was gonna become hotter than an oven in a while, but I didn't mind sweating a bit more than usual if it meant putting Brittany more at ease. She laid back down, her head on the pillow, and before joining her I quickly removed both my bra and my underwear. I tossed them aside and then leaned down to reconnected our lips, my hands inching further down her body with a slow pace. When my fingertips met fabric again, I paused.

"You can... "she whispered with a small nod, raising her hips slightly.

With that, I started tugging her underwear down her legs. Once they were off, I rested my hand on her lower belly, caressing the skin lightly. I ventured a bit lower with every touch, and when I felt her hips raising upwards and pushing against my hand, I finally guided it down to her center. We both let out a gasp.

She was soft, warm and wet. As I started stroking my fingers through her folds, she began to whimper in pleasure. She felt so amazing that I was actually having trouble keeping it together myself. I kept gently touching her intimate area until I found her sensitive spot; when I started running circular motions around it, her small sounds became way louder.

"Ah... Oh God..."

I kept rubbing on the same spot for a while, whereas I kissed every inch of her skin I could reach, until I figured she was ready enough. I brought my hand to the back of her knee and gently spread her legs further apart before lowering my body between them. This action seemed to bring Brittany back to reality. I could feel her chest rise and fall quickly underneath me, and as I looked into her eyes I realized it wasn't only because of her arousal. She was nervous again.

I wiggled my hand between our bodies and brought it back between her legs, massaging her slowly and trying to get her to relax. I aimed my strokes lower and lower, until I was nearly over her entrance.

"Go slow, please..." she said in a small voice.

"Of course, baby..." I whispered against her lips, never stopping my motions. "I'll be gentle. It will feel awesome, I promise..."

She nodded, and I sealed my promise with a kiss, trying to pour in it all my care and adoration for her.

With our lips still glued together, I lowered my hand and started pushing one finger inside of her. I entered her slowly and carefully, but since I felt only a slight resistance, I didn't stop until I was all the way inside. She squirmed underneath me and started breathing heavily against my mouth. I kept still for a while, giving her the time to adjust and peppering her face with kisses.

When I felt she was loosening up a bit, I started a slow back-and-forth motion that had her groaning instantly. Her eyes were closed and her brows slightly furrowed, and even though she hadn't told me to stop, I couldn't make out if she was in pleasure or pain.

"Am I hurting you?" I asked unsure, almost stilling my hand.

"No... ugh... Keep going..." she managed to let out while panting.

I slightly picked up the pace, and soon my finger started slipping in and out pretty easily, all the while Brittany kept moaning softly and gripping my forearm. When I added a second finger, she let out a loud cry and her hips raised to meet my hand. I started to grind down on her with my whole body and soon we fell into a steady rhythm.

All kinds of things were happening inside of me in the meanwhile. Pleasuring Brittany felt almost as intense as being pleasured, and definitely more intimate than any other thing I had ever done. Every time my fingers reached her sweet spot and she cried out in pleasure I felt my arousal become just a bit more unbearable, but also some sort of invisible string tugging my heart with force. It felt almost scary, but I didn't stop.

I needed release way too badly, so I straddled one of her thighs, using my one that was still between her legs to push against the back of my hand. I hesitantly stroked my center against her skin, immediately feeling some relief. Brittany didn't seem to mind or even notice, but I still wanted to make sure it was fine to her.

"Was that okay?" I asked. "I need to..."

"Yes... ah... Sure..." she quickly interrupted me.

I quickly managed to match the strokes against her thigh with the motion of my fingers. Our hips rose and fell in a perfect harmony and soon pleased noises started to erupt from my own throat, still barely audible as Brittany had stopped every attempt to muffle her cries and was now moaning freely. My whole body was starting to ache for the exertion when she let out a strangled "more... please..." that told me she was close to her orgasm, so I brought myself to make one last effort and started pushing with my whole body heavily against her, curling my fingers inside of her in the attempt of going as deep as I could. I applied some pressure over her clit with my thumb and she finally came undone.

Her body writhing underneath me, her fingers digging into the skin of my back, the loud sounds coming from her throat, our naked and sweaty bodies nearly molding together, the wet noises coming from between her legs as I kept moving inside of her, the tightness and warmth I could feel as she came around my fingers, all of this was just too much to bear, and with one last stroke against her thigh I fell apart.

"Ahhhh... Yes..." I nearly screamed out, before burying my face in the crook of her neck.

We both slowly came down from our highs, and when I felt her body relax completely I slipped my fingers out of her and then rolled onto my back. We just laid there for a few minutes, in silence, still panting loudly.

When I began to catch my breath, I turned on my side in order to see my girlfriend. She had her lips still slightly parted, and I was relieved to find the hint of a smile on them. When she turned her head to look at me, I softly smiled back. She rolled onto her side too so we were facing each other; I put one arm around her and she grabbed my other hand to interlace our fingers together. I brought our intertwined hands to my mouth and kissed each one of her knuckles.

"How are you feeling?" I asked softly.

"Good. Actually, I am great..." she answered, her smile growing wider.

"Me too."

I saw her biting her lip like she always did when she was thinking about something."Was that really okay for you too? It didn't... suck?"

I pulled her closer."What? No, of course not... Britt, this was special."

Seeing the happiness in her eyes triggered something inside of me.

" I... I've never felt like this with anybody else."

_Woah, there, Lopez. Calm down._

"Most of all, I feel special because you trusted me with something so big and important. But other than that... I feel connected to you, Britt."

_Are you seriously still talking?_

"And I really wish I could explain it better, but I am not sure I can... I'm happy, and overwhelmed and..."

Suddenly, I realized I knew how to explain it better, and I knew how to call the warmth in my chest and why I had I had felt that string tugging my heart.

_Screw everything, I'm going for it._

"... I love you, Brittany."

It was like a huge weight had just been lifted off my shoulders, but at the same time I felt like I had crossed a line and now there was no turning back. She had the ball in her court now, and I was just hoping to not get hit hard in the face when she'd throw it back at me.

At first she almost seemed shocked, but as I kept staring at her, full of hope, I saw her expression slowly light up, and I instantly knew I had done the right thing. She scooted closer to me until our noses were touching; looking at me right in the eyes, she crossed the line as well.

"I love you too, Santana. I love you so much."

* * *

**Okay, I don't know how this came out. I was really into it while I wrote this, but it was my first shot with a full sex scene, so it might actually be a disaster... Also, as I am known for being super cheesy, I hope I managed to keep it realistic enough :-) Please, let me know your thoughts about this!**


	19. Chapter 19

**This chapter will probably answer some of your questions, and I guess it's also an important point of the story so... Enjoy and send feedback! **

Laying in bed with my beautiful, naked girlfriend pressed up against me as we exchanged tender kisses felt pretty unreal. Wonderfully unreal. I had never felt so happy and peaceful before.

It was odd to think how new it was to me. After all, women had never been strangers to my bed (or my shower, or the kitchen table...), and at least a good number of them had managed to leave me pleased and relaxed after a night of great sexual activities. But I had never looked for more than an orgasm with any of them: every time I came down from my high I immediately put some space between my body and the random girl, almost forgetting about her as I laid there, enjoying the feeling of physical satisfaction on my own.

Most of the girls just recovered from the effort, grabbed their stuff and left without even needing to be escorted to the door. Some of them scribbled down their phone number on a piece of paper and said goodbye with a kiss on my cheek and a whispered "call me". Useless to say, I never called any of them. And of course, there were girls who tried to stay overnight, making their intentions clear by caressing my body and whispering all kinds of mushy things in my ear. I usually just didn't reciprocate their touches and their words until they understood the message.

I didn't think I had ever been too rude to any of them; maybe only one time when a chick asked me if we could go shopping together the following afternoon and I answered with "I'll call you a cab." She had been so stubborn to come back the next day, and I had managed to convince Quinn to send her away with the promise of taking care of house chores for a whole month.

But now, as I stared into a pair of breathtaking blue eyes, I just wanted to hold Brittany closer to me, to stroke her skin tenderly, to brush another strand of silky hair from her face, to make her giggle with another kiss on the tip of her nose.

"What are you thinking about?" Brittany asked me, brushing her fingertips against my cheek.

"Just that... this is nice. Really nice."

"Cuddling?"

"Yeah... with you."

I wanted to say "cuddling with you after some nice sex", but I was afraid she wouldn't understand the way I meant it. She smiled and started caressing my shoulder lightly. I was feeling more and more relaxed under her touch by the second.

"Does that mean... I can stay?" She asked after a few seconds.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "What? Why would you... of course you can... I_ want_ you to stay!"

"Really?"

"Britt, I don't get why are you even asking this... I mean, I just said I love you, did you really expect me to kick you out right after that?" I told her, half-smiling.

She blushed and looked down. "Ugh... I just don't want to freak you out or anything. I don't know what... the rules are."

"Hey..." I said softly, raising her chin with my finger to make her look up to me again. "I don't know them either. This is new territory for both of us. But if it makes you feel better, we can make our own rules."

She chuckled lightly. "That would be cool..." she said, keeping up with my silly idea.

"Okay, so, I say that right now we should keep cuddling for a while more, and then we can go to sleep."

She turned onto her back, and I wiggled closer to her, wrapping one arm around her waist and resting my chin on her shoulder. She rested both of her hands on my arm that was currently draped over her stomach and turned her head to look at me.

"And then what?"

"Then we have to follow this very strict rule that says we have to sleep super close, and we can't let go of each other."

"What if I have to pee?"

"You can get away to pee, but you have to make it fast."

She giggled. "Okay, what else?"

"We can sleep as much as we want, cause neither of us has to go to work tomorrow. And then I'll make sure to wake up before you and bring you breakfast in bed."

"I like those rules" Brittany said playfully.

"Good to know" I told her, yawning, "because I think I am about to doze off..."

"Me too... I guess those cuddles can wait until tomorrow..."

I closed my eyes, and I felt her lips leaving a light kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight, San."

"Goodnight Britt-Britt..." I managed to murmur against her skin, before falling into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

I still had my eyes closed, but I could sense the light of day seeping through the curtains from behind my eyelids. My nose was squashed against something soft, and when I finally managed to open my eyes I was met with pale skin. The corners of my mouth turned upwards, before I puckered my lips and landed a kiss on my girlfriend's smooth back. She had probably turned around during sleep and I had ended up spooning her, my right arm thrown over her hip.

I raised my head to glance beyond her at the alarm clock on my bedside table; it was nearly nine. I snuggled closer to Brittany and propped my head up on my elbow to be able to see her face. The moment my eyes landed on her, I felt that tug at my heart again.

She was still completely asleep, her features relaxed, her blonde hair sprawled all over our shared pillow. I remembered how on our first date I had thought she was probably the kind of girl who looked pretty even after having just woken up, and seeing how sleep made her look so stunning, I knew I had been right. She seemed too perfect to be real, and looking at her felt almost like admiring a delicate, untouchable work of art. It took my breath away to realize that I was holding such perfection in my arms, and even more to think that I was able to call her _mine._

_She said she loves you, Santana. _

_You love her and she loves you back._

The realization started to sink in and I felt my heart hammering inside of my chest, stronger and faster than ever. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against Brittany's shoulder blade, then started leaving a trail of kisses as I inched upwards. I had just reached the spot behind her earlobe when I felt her stir against me.

"Mhm... 'morning..." she said groggily, eyes still closed.

I landed a kiss on her cheek. " Good morning..." I whispered in her ear, not wanting to startle her as she was still half asleep.

"...have to get up?" she mumbled against the pillow, blindly reaching for my hand and interlacing our fingers.

"Not yet... You can sleep a bit more, I'll go make us some breakfast."

She smiled lightly and let out a pleased sigh. "...'mkay..."

I stayed in bed for another couple of minutes, occasionally pressing my lips against some spot on Brittany's skin and rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb; I finally let her go and slowly crawled out of bed. I put some clothes on and took clean ones out of the drawer for Brittany, placing them on the bedside table; I then picked up all the clothes scattered around the room as a result of the previous night's activities and folded them neatly, before putting them on the chair in the corner.

Shuffling out of the bedroom, I realized how relaxed I felt. Having been able to finally release my sexual tension had definitely something to do with it, but it was also thanks to the fact that, given the huge step forward Brittany and I had taken, I felt like our relationship was now really strong. And of course, I was basking in the thought that my love for her was reciprocated.

With all these pleasant thoughts in my head, I started making pancakes, all the while humming lightly some casual tune.

"Make one for me too?" Quinn asked appearing from behind the corner.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled lightly. "Yeah... fine..."

She walked closer to me and leaned against the counter, studying me with a small smirk on her lips. "Fine? Wow... You must be in a really good mood. I wonder why..."

I knew that teasing was Quinn's way to say she was happy for me, so I didn't snap at her and kept making breakfast in silence, a smile still lingering on my lips. She stared at me for another while before grabbing three plates and setting them on the table; in no time, I was filling them with delicious chocolate-chip pancakes. I put two of them on a tray, along with two glasses of milk, and when I turned around to grab a couple of forks I found Quinn handing them to me.

"How does it feel?" she asked as I grabbed them from her hand.

I sighed. "Amazing. I had forgotten what it's like to wake up with somebody else..."

"...especially if that somebody is not just somebody?"

I simply nodded, almost bashfully, before picking up the tray and carefully making my way back to my bedroom. As I had my back turned to her, Quinn spoke again.

"I just hope you remembered to wash your hands before making these..." she teased me.

I smirked to myself before turning around to face her; she had already taken a few bites off her pancake.

"Whoops..." I said, shrugging my shoulders, "forgot!"

I saw her eyes widen as she immediately stopped chewing.

"SANTANA!"

I rushed back into my room and quickly closed the door behind me with one foot, all the while giggling hysterically. When I turned around, I was met with quite a sight.

Brittany was laying on her stomach in the middle of my bed, her left foot slightly tangled up with the blanket. She was only wearing the t-shirt I had taken out for her and her underwear, allowing me to enjoy the plain view of her legs and the curve of her butt. She was propped up on her elbows and she held her phone in one hand, as she had probably been looking at it before I had entered the room. She was staring at me with a slight smile and curious expression.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just messing with Quinn..."

I walked towards her as she pulled herself up to sit cross-legged. As she did, I noticed my t-shirt was kinda small for her, since the hem grazed her belly button and her lower abs were showing.

Not that I was complaining.

"I see you found the clothes" I said, carefully lowering the tray onto the bed before sitting down.

"Yeah... I didn't realize you were so tiny!" she answered, tugging at the fabric that was barely covering her stomach.

"I'm not!"

"You are... but it's cute..." she said, and even though she had complimented me, she was the one who blushed.

"_You_ are cute" I told her before leaning forward and giving her a light kiss right on the spot that had just become redder. "Come on, try this. You might be a hell of a cook, but I bet you can't top my breakfasts..."

We began to eat, and she admitted that my pancakes were the best she had ever tried. We fell into a light conversation about the best places to have breakfast in NYC; of course we agreed that this place called "Schuester's" was by far the dopest. As we finished our meal, I gladly realized that she seemed just as relaxed as I felt; I was reminded of something I probably had to ask her.

"Britt, are you okay? I mean, does it... hurt or something?"

"What? Oh, no... uhm... well, I'm a bit sore and it feels funny. But I'm cool." Her cheeks reddened slightly, and that brought me to come up with another question.

"And you're still fine with it? Like, the fact that it happened..."

She smiled softly and leaned in to place a gentle kiss to my lips. "Absolutely... You were the sweetest last night..." she murmured while caressing my jaw. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure?"

"Before we went to sleep, you said it was new territory for both of us, and I am not sure I know what you meant... Is it because you haven't had a girlfriend in a while?"

I felt a pang of guilt as I realized I hadn't been honest with Brittany about my previous... "lifestyle". Actually, I had never really lied or anything since the topic had never come up before, but now that the matter had come to surface, I knew I had to tell her.

I just hoped she wouldn't take it in a bad way.

"Uhm... sort of..." I started. "Actually, a very long time. My last serious relationship dates back to high school times. I mean, for as serious as you can be when you're still in high school..."

"Woah, really?" Brittany asked, a bit taken aback.

"Yeah. After that I've had some sort of dates here and there, but mostly I've just been... hooking up. Like, a lot. Random girls, no strings attached."

I had never felt bad about it, but saying that out loud to Brittany made me feel kinda awful. And pretty slutty, too.

"But with you it's different, I swear. You're not just another girl..." I said, almost pleading. "You know when you asked if you could stay? It was natural to think that you would sleep here with me, I didn't even doubt it for a second. But that's what I meant by new territory... You're the only one who has ever stayed _after, _Britt."

I paused and looked at her, waiting to hear something in response, hopefully nothing too bad.

"I... I don't know what to say..."

It was enough for me to panic and start ranting.

"No, I know, but I promise I'm serious about us, and I would never cheat or do anything behind your back... like, you can check my phone if you want, and I can write down my shift schedule for you, because really, I'm either at work or with you so you don't have to worry about wherever..."

"San, wait, I don't... Stop that, okay?" Brittany told me, and I took her half-smile as a good sign. "You don't have to do any of those things. I trust you."

"Yes?"

"Yes... I don't wanna start my first real relationship by being a crazy-ass jealous girlfriend. And you've been so awesome and patient to me, I know you wouldn't hurt me."

"Never ever, Britt." I quickly said.

"So it's fine, and I'm happy you told me. You know, I feel kinda special now..." she added shyly.

I pulled her in a hug , wrapping my arms around her shoulders, relieved. "Of course you're special..."

We stayed in bed for a while more, just laughing about silly things and enjoying a few more cuddles, before Brittany asked if we could go to her place to check on her cat. In no time she was back into her clothes from the previous evening, while I had changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater; I picked up the tray and we headed out of my bedroom.

"Hey, Brittany, it's great to see you!" Quinn said as we entered the kitchen. She was sitting with her hands on the table, waiting for the nail-polish to dry off. "I would hug you, but I don't wanna ruin your t-shirt..." she added, wiggling her fingers.

"No worries. Nice color!"

They started a casual conversation as I quickly washed the plates and the glasses, keeping myself from scolding Quinn for not washing her own plate only because I didn't want to interrupt their chat. I already knew my best friend really liked Brittany, but I still enjoyed seeing them bonding.

In ten minutes I was finished and we were ready to head out. We grabbed our coats and waved Quinn goodbye as we walked out of the apartment. When we stepped onto the sidewalk I was quick to grab Brittany's hand; as we went towards her house, I relished the feeling of doing my favorite thing ever, aka walking down the streets of the best city in the world hand in hand with the most wonderful girl on the planet.

_After last night, more like my second favorite thing ever..._

* * *

"TUBBS! I'm home!" Brittany almost yelled as soon as we stepped inside of her apartment. The cat was laying down on an armchair in the living room; he barely acknowledged our arrival, looking towards us with a lazy expression. However, he purred happily when Brittany sat down beside him and started scratching the top of his head.

I studied Lord Tubbington's dumb expression as Brittany kept petting him and I came to the conclusion that I would have probably acted the same if I had been in his place; however I quickly averted my gaze, looking for something else to focus on as I was dangerously close to a few thoughts about how magical Brittany's slender fingers could be...

"Mind if I take a quick shower? I totally need to change" Brittany asked after standing up again. "You can go to my room and I'll keep the door open so we can talk in the meanwhile?"

"Sure thing, babe..."

I followed her through the corridor and smiled when I stepped inside of her bedroom again.

"I know it's not as nice as your room, but make yourself at home..."

"I really like it, Britt. It's cozy!"

"Yeah, maybe cause it's super small" she joked as she grabbed some stuff from the wardrobe and walked towards the bathroom. I fell down on her bed and started toying with her stuffed animals, particularly appreciating a small, yellow duck which was really fluffy. From my current position I could see the bathroom sink, but not Brittany; I assumed the shower was placed in the corner beside the door. I still managed to catch a nice glimpse of her bare back from the reflection on the mirror.

_Ugh, stop perving on your girlfriend, idiot._

"What time is your dad coming home?" I asked after a while in a pretty loud voice to make sure she could hear me over the running water.

"He said probably after dinner, but he wasn't sure. Why?"

"I wondered if you wanted me to stay until he's back so we can talk to him about that thing with Mike..."

I heard Brittany closing the taps and stepping out of the shower. "I had forgot about that..."

"We can wait if you want" I started again "but I figured the sooner the better, cause the more you wait, the more anxious you'll become... And I guess Mike needs an answer anyway."

She came back to the bedroom already half-clothed, seeming deep in thought as she slipped on a big red hoodie. "You're right..." she finally said while sitting down beside me. "But I'm afraid he'll get crazy mad at me."

"Hey, don't be negative." I rested my chin on her shoulder and started rubbing her arm soothingly. "You're just switching jobs, it's not that big of a deal."

"I hope so..."

Seeing Brittany was still wearing a concerned expression, I decided to try and lighten the mood and started tickling her sides. "San! No no no..." She started laughing hysterically and as I kept attacking her she squirmed and moved around until we were laying on our sides against her pillows. I stopped tickling and placed a few small kisses on her cheek. "It will be fine Britt, I'm sure."

"Thanks for being here with me. I know I have to be the one to do the talking, but knowing I have your support is really helpful."

She turned slightly and kissed me and I could gladly tell she was feeling better. She got up from the bed and offered me her outstretched hands. "Let's go feed Tubbs and watch some tv?"

I just took her hands and let her pull me up; when I was back on my feet, I grinned as she playfully kissed my nose before following her back to the living room.

* * *

It was about lunchtime when we heard the sound of the door being unlocked. I turned questioningly to Brittany, who had just raised up from the couch, but before either of us could say anything, the door opened and I was able to see my girlfriend's father for the first time.

"Hi dad! I didn't expect you to come home so early..." Brittany said, and I could see some of the previous anxiety come back to her as she made her way towards the doorstep. I rose up from the couch and stood still, figuring it was better if I just waited for Brittany to introduce me. If she seemed tense, I was beyond nervous instead: even if until that moment I had tried to be positive, I was actually worried about his reaction to the whole new job thing. I also wanted to make a good impression, so maybe he wouldn't be so uptight about Britt hanging out with me and my friends.

_Nice and confident, Lopez. And put away that guilty look. _

_He's got no idea you're banging his daughter. _

I gulped at that last thought before bringing my focus back to the other two people currently in the room.

"Hey, sweetie. Thanks" he answered as Brittany took his bag from him. "Luckily we've been dismissed earlier than expected. I am so tired..."

I had barely been able to take in his appearance, but I instantly thought that "tired" was probably his perfect description. He was pretty tall and he had wide shoulders, but they were hunched, almost like he had to carry an invisible weight on his back. As my eyes landed on his face I realized he could be considered a handsome man, who however had aged way too soon. He had short brown hair and the same blue eyes of his daughter, which almost seemed the only sparkle of life in his worn out features. There was a deep crease on his forehead and the corners of his mouth were twitched slightly downwards. I had the feeling that they both were permanent traits of his face.

Overall, he didn't look as scary as I had imagined, also judging by the way he had just spoken to Brittany. Seeing he was not the intimidating father figure I had expected only helped in keeping my hopes up. Only in that moment I realized that I yet had to be introduced.

"Dad" Brittany finally said, gesturing towards me with her hands "this is my friend Santana."

Only then he acknowledged my presence in the room, glancing at me. "Nice to meet you, sir" I quickly said, and I was about to step forward and shake his hand when he just turned around, wearing an almost defeated expression, and reached for the cupboard, taking a glass and a bottle of what looked like some kind of liquor. Brittany sent me an anxious look, and even I was just as worried for the way he had pretty much ignored him, I slightly nodded, trying to reassure her. At that, she turned back to him.

"She was giving me some advice on something... Which is also what I wanted to talk to you about."

He stopped sipping from his glass and stared back at her, blankly.

"I got a job offer."

"Your actual job is safe, why would you want to change that?" he asked calmly.

"Because I'd like this one more... Santana's friend Mike offered me to teach some dance courses at his studio."

I gulped as soon as the words left Brittany's mouth. I expected him to either be happy or snap at her, but instead he just took another sip of liquor.

"That's out of discussion, Brittany."

_Shit._

"But it's just another job, dad..."

"It's not." He was still very calm, but that started to scare me more than if he was actually screaming."What if the studio closes? It's not a safe business."

"Mike's business is going very well, that's why he needs to hire me!"

"And what if you fall and hurt yourself permanently? You would instantly lose your job. And you know we couldn't afford that."

"But I'd be teaching kids, it's not dangerous or anything... please, dad, I'd really love to..."

"ENOUGH!" he finally yelled, smashing the glass against the kitchen counter. He didn't even bother looking at the small pieces of glass that now covered the floor and just took a few steps towards Brittany.

"I WORK MY ASS OFF TO KEEP THIS FAMILY TOGETHER AND THIS IS WHAT I GET? TO COME HOME AND HEAR YOU TALKING BULLSHIT? WHEN WILL YOU EVER GROW THE FUCK UP?"

Every cell in my body screamed to step forward and protect Brittany from all that yelling, but I was glued to the spot. He was towering over her and I couldn't believe it had taken him just a few seconds to become so scary. Then I caught a glimpse of Brittany's face and my heart just broke into a million pieces.

It was like being brought back in time to our first meeting. She had the same pained expression, like the words yelled to her face affected her physically, just as slaps would. Only this time it wasn't just a random asshole who was causing that;, it was her own father.

"... I see how you made all those new "friends"... They're just taking advantage of you because YOU ARE FUCKING RETARDED! It probably isn't even a real studio... You've probably been tricked into working in a strip club or something! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? TO WHORE AROUND FOR A LIVING?"

When I saw a single tear running down Brittany's cheek I decided I just couldn't stand there and watch.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I asked as loud as I could, and as soon as I did he stopped yelling and stared at me with an expression that made my breath hitch. I still didn't move and kept looking back at him. I just couldn't believe he had been able to say _that_ stuff to his own daughter.

I saw the man walking towards me almost in slow motion, and when he finally came to stand right in front of me I just felt sure that he was gonna hit me. Instead, he started speaking again, his voice lowered down.

"Brittany, escort your... friend... out of my house. And I am saying it once and for all. You're not quitting your job."

I didn't have time to reply as I felt Brittany grabbing my forearm and quickly pulling me towards the door; I caught a glimpse of her father walking into his room before I found myself standing right outside Brittany's apartment. Again, I didn't even manage to say a word as she beat me to it.

"Why did you make me do this? I knew this was gonna happen..." She sounded halfway between mad and desperate, and I didn't like at all that she was trying to accuse me.

"Made you? So now I'm the bad guy?"

"No... I didn't mean... I just should have known better!"

"But why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

"What?" she asked, looking up at me for the first time since we had got out of her house.

"Your father, Brittany. He's... _violent_!"

She seemed genuinely confused. "He's not! He's never touched me with a finger and he never would! Santana, you don't understand..."

"No, YOU don't understand! He doesn't need to hit you to be violent! That was verbal abuse!"

"Stop it, Santana! You don't know anything!" She said in a loud voice, and I noticed she had started crying again. "Thanks to you I've already made myself look like a fool, why do you need to humiliate me more? Aren't you happy? Do you really have to try and convince me that my family sucks, too?"

I was taken aback but the harshness of her words, which was completely new to me. "Brittany, I've never wanted to make you feel bad, just listen to me, please, I..."

"I think you should leave. Go back to your perfect life and let me deal with mine."

And once again, I was standing still in front of a closed door.


	20. Chapter 20

**I know, I'm super late; life got in the way.**

**Also, I am not completely satisfied with how this chapter turned out, but I didn't want to wait more to post it. I only hope it delivers everything it's supposed to and you guys can still appreciate it. I wanted to thank again LananaBanana, who has sent me a few smart comments about the flaws of the story so far. If anyone has questions, feel free to send me a PM; and of course, reviews are always welcome! **

After our fight, I hadn't been able to talk to Brittany all weekend. Not only I missed her, but I was also crazy worried about anything her dad could have said or done after I had been sent away. I had sent her text after text and I had tried to call her countless times, but she had never answered. Not even Quinn, despite her usual wisdom, had actually been able to give me some advice, and hearing about Brittany's father had gotten her worried too.

Of course I had lost my ability to sleep again.

When I got out of bed on Monday morning, I barely bothered putting on my clothes and pulling my hair back somehow before heading out to work, make-up-less and without having had any breakfast. On my way to Schuester's I decided to go to the grocery store in the afternoon; even if Brittany still refused to talk to me, at least I wanted to see with my eyes if she was okay.

I had realized that even if she had unrightfully blamed me for everything that had happened with her father, I wasn't really mad at her. Yes, the fact that she had snapped at me in that way had really hurt, as well as seeing her closing herself up again; but I kept thinking that it had to do with the fact that I had been there to witness a part of her life that she really didn't want me to see, and that she had never actually considered me responsible for the happenings.

Also, my worry for her situation pretty much overcame any other feeling.

I managed to get through my shift without the others bothering me too much about my current state and without breaking any glasses; only when I had already taken off my apron and I was ready to head out Tina approached me.

"Santana... If there is anything I can do, you just need to ask. Same goes for the others. Okay?"

I felt grateful for how she was offering me support and understanding without being intrusive, so I gave her a small smile in exchange. "I know. Thank you. And sorry if I'm such an ass to be around sometimes..."

"Whatever happened, I'm sure it's gonna be fine" she said, giving me a light squeeze on my shoulder before heading to the kitchen. As I watched her walk away, I could only hope she was right.

* * *

"Santana! Hey!"

I spun around to see Kurt walking down the aisle towards me, and I couldn't figure out what the expression on his face could possibly mean.

"Where's Brittany?" he asked as soon as he had reached me. I was taken aback by his question.

"Actually, I was hoping to find her here... Didn't she come at work this morning?"

"No, and she didn't even send me a text. The boss didn't seem surprised, but I had no idea she had taken the day off. " His words only made my worry grow, and he probably noticed it. "What's going on? What happened?"

I sighed, having no idea on how to answer that. "I'm not sure of how much I can tell you, Kurt."

At that point he grabbed my wrist and looked around a couple of times before guiding me through a door on his right that led to a small closet full of cleaning items. However, I didn't really have time to take in my surroundings as he immediately started talking again.

"Ok, it's pretty clear you know something that I don't, so just spill it because I already don't like where this is going..."

I stared at him for a few moments, and even though I still didn't think it was right for me to be the one to tell him about Brittany's issues with her father, I thought he could be trusted enough to have at least a partial explanation. "We had a fight on Saturday, and I haven't been able to talk to Brittany again after that."

I could already see his protective attitude about to kick in, so I quickly added: "I swear I didn't do anything! Kurt, please, listen to me? You can slap me if you think I deserve it, but first let me explain."

He just huffed and nodded, eager for me to continue with my explanation.

"Mike asked Brittany to work with him as a dance teacher at his studio. She was worried that her father wouldn't be happy about her leaving her job here, but I convinced her to at least try and tell him about it, and I was there when she did. Things... didn't go as expected, and now she blames me for convincing her to talk to him and thus causing their fight. She has been avoiding me since it happened."

I purposefully left out the part about her father's violent attitude and how I had pointed it out causing her bad reaction, which was after all the real issue, but I couldn't bring myself to tell Kurt about something she clearly didn't feel comfortable to share with anyone.

"I see..." Kurt mumbled. "Again, I guess I can't really be mad at you. I mean, I don't know a lot about her relationship with her dad, but it's enough to realize that nothing good comes out of their fights..."

" I need to fix this, Kurt."

"Santana... I think it's not up to you. I mean, you've just been caught between two fires, I'm pretty sure Brittany is not really mad at you and eventually she'll come around. And if I know her as I think, she will apologize too. "

"Eventually is not enough. And I couldn't care less about her apology... I just want her to be okay. _Us_ to be okay."

Kurt just looked at me for a few seconds, a light smirk appearing on his face. "Remember the first time you two had a fight? Remember what I told you?"

"What?"

"That you'd be a great girlfriend for Brittany. And you totally freaked out, I must add."

I chuckled lightly at the thought. "Yeah. I didn't think you noticed..."

"Well, listening to you now only makes me realize I was right."

I lowered my gaze, feeling a mixture of pride and embarrassment rising up from my chest. But hearing those words helped giving me the confidence to believe that we were gonna work things out.

"She only has you, Santana" he started again. "And me, of course, but it's not the same thing. That means she will immediately run to you whenever something good happens, but you're also the one she will turn to when her pain, anger or frustration take over. "

"And I want to share it all with her. I really do. But how am I supposed to do that if she closes herself up like this every time we meet an obstacle?"

"I'm afraid that if you don't have an answer for that, no one else does."

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, realizing my trip to the store had only helped clouding my head even more, even with the slightly positive feeling that had somehow managed to grow in me thanks to Kurt's words.

"I'll let you go back to work, Kurt."

We walked out of the small closet and I turned to him again. "I'm gonna try to call her later" he said. "I'll let you know."

"Yeah, thank you."

I didn't expect him to step forward and give me a brief hug, but I was glad he did. We said our goodbyes and I walked out of the store, my mind still racing about how I could get to talk to Brittany. I tried to focus on the fact that both Tina and Kurt had reassured me that everything was gonna be fine, but unfortunately it didn't make me feel any better.

* * *

_Kurt: _** Britt didn't pick but up she sent me a txt. Only said she's fine.**

_To Kurt:_ ** Better than nothing. Thank you again.**

I put my phone back on the bedside table and allowed myself to sigh in relief. The text Brittany had sent to Kurt didn't necessarily mean that she was actually fine, but the fact alone that she had answered him was enough to get me to slightly calm down.

However, it was far from enough to allow me to sleep.

I couldn't get over the fact that she hadn't told me how bad her situation at home was. And not because she hadn't told _me_, but because what I had witnessed with her father had allowed me to put some sense into the lingering sadness behind her eyes that I had seen come to surface more than once, and now I felt guilty for not having given it the right amount of attention.

I buried my face into my pillow, hoping to still find her smell on it. I did, but I wasn't sure if it was actually there or if I had just been craving it so much that my mind was tricking me into believing it. I couldn't decide if it made me feel better or worse; as I kept taking deep breaths into the fabric I was reminded of the distance between Brittany and I, which at the moment was more than simply physical. But it still felt soothing, and as my tired eyes slowly started surrendering, my brain managed to put on hold the negative thoughts and let me fall asleep.

The following morning I woke up around nine, my head pounding a bit less than it had on the previous morning given the few more hours of sleep I had managed to get during the night. I got out of bed and forced myself towards the kitchen to make some sort of breakfast; it was a nice surprise to find a plate of waffles waiting for me on the counter. Beside it there was a note from Quinn only saying "EAT". I chuckled to myself and mentally thanked my roommate for knowing me so well, because I would have probably ended up skipping the meal again.

As soon as I sat down on the table and began to eat, I found myself about to be thrown into the same cloud of thoughts which had taken over me in the past couple of days. However, maybe thanks to the morning having started better than I had expected, I managed to move from my usual negative thinking and focus on something different.

I started replaying Kurt's words in my head.

_She only has you._

_If you don't have an answer for that, no one else does._

_..._

_How the hell didn't you think about it sooner?!_

I scrambled to my feet and ran into my bedroom, grabbing the first clothes I could find in my wardrobe before putting them on and hurrying to the living room. I put on a pair of sneakers that were currently on the floor near the doorway, not even bothering to make sure they were mine and not Quinn's. I clumsily put my coat on while taking my keys and in a heartbeat I was out of the door and down the stairs.

I started running down the street, dodging the other pedestrians and ignoring their questioning looks, determined to get to my destination as quickly as possible.

Because if Kurt was right, if I really was the only one close enough to Brittany to figure her out, then I also had to be the only one who knew where she was right now.

Even if she had kept some things from me, she had trusted me with others.

Like, from the very beginning.

So I kept running until I reached a certain spot of a certain fence, and only once I had gotten past it I slowed down, because the only time I had been there before was at night, and with somebody else to guide me throughout the woods. However, I didn't allow myself to stop completely and started climbing up the small hill, keeping a straight path that I hoped could lead me quickly enough to the top.

I finally reached the spot where the trees became sparse, and I found her sitting down on the barely-there grass, her back towards me.

Even though I was still panting from the effort of rushing there, I tried my best to silence my deep breaths and walked closer to her. I didn't say anything, I just kept going forward until I was standing by her side.

Surprisingly, she spoke first.

"I knew you'd come here eventually."

"Then why did you stay? I thought you wanted to avoid me..." I asked, and there was no bitterness in my voice. I just genuinely wanted to understand.

"I kinda did."

I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't, so after a few moments of silence I lowered myself to sit down beside her. It took her a while to start again, and when she did she said something I didn't expect.

"My father got hired full time."

I knew that it was supposed to be a great news, but I failed to realize why she was telling me this.

"I... It's great, Britt. I'm glad for you both." I said as warmly as I could.

"Yeah... He got a call on Sunday, and they told him the news. Unofficially, but it's still a sure thing." She paused and looked at me briefly, for the first time since I had arrived, but then she quickly settled her gaze back in front of her. "He was so happy, San. Happier than I've seen him in a very long time."

I nodded and smiled lightly as a reassurance that I was still listening, and even if she wasn't looking at me I knew she could feel it.

"It was like our fight was completely forgotten, and he said we had to celebrate, so we went out for dinner. I couldn't remember the last time we had done that. Nothing fancy, but it was still awesome, and he never stopped smiling. And I don't know how I found the strength to do that but... since he was in such a good mood... I brought up the dance issue again."

"You did?" I asked before I could stop myself, because I could barely believe she had really done that, especially since I had still very fresh in my mind her painful expression as she had been on the receiving end of her father's screams.

"Yeah. I insisted on the fact that my paycheck would be increased, and that the studio is going very well, and eventually we came to an agreement. He said that he realizes I'm not a child anymore, and I should take my own decisions. We decided an amount of money I have to deposit to him every month, which is my part for all the stuff regarding the house, and as long as I keep it coming regularly, I can raise it in the way I prefer."

"Wait... so does that mean that... when you weren't at work yesterday..." I stumbled on my words as I could barely keep up with all the news.

"I didn't take a day off. I quit the job. I'm starting with Mike next week" she finally said with a small grin.

"Oh my God... Brittany, I don't know what to say..." No matter how confused I felt, my smile inevitably grew wider as the realization of what was happening really started to sink in.

"Also, we worked out a new schedule. I'm still supposed to take care of the house and everything but... dad said that it's okay if I have dinner out or I stay at a friend's place for the night, I just need to warn him about it. Which means we will have to fill the whole apartment with frozen foods for when I'm not home to cook, but he said it's fine as long as I make everything else work."

I wanted to say something, but I didn't even know where to begin. The happiness I felt about their new arrangement grew by the second, but I knew there were still so many things that had yet to be put in place.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner about this?" I finally managed to ask.

Brittany let out a sigh, and looked at me again. "Because I was trying to find the courage to apologize."

Before I could say anything back, she took my hand in hers and continued. "I'm so sorry for getting mad at you in that way. I blamed you for something that had nothing to do with you only because you were there and it was easier to pour my frustration on you."

I could see her eyes were getting glossy, and I squeezed her hand tighter.

"You pushed me to try and get what I wanted, and it was only thanks to you if I got there. I'm so sorry if I didn't get it at first and told you all those awful things. I swear I don't think them, I was just... lost. I am so, so, so sorry."

So many feelings were rushing through me and I couldn't bring myself to say anything, even if a part of me wanted to, because the more Brittany spoke the more she seemed unable to be keeping it together. She didn't let me anyway, as words kept pouring from her mouth, unstoppable, just like that first time she had appeared at my doorstep to apologize.

"And I know that I can't just hope that my apologies are enough. But I really need you to know that I didn't mean it when I said you humiliated me, because you could never do that. You have done nothing but good to me, and I see it clearly now more than ever. You make me feel like I can actually wake up and make something out of my day, and not just get through it somehow. I've been closed up to the world for so long, and I am still learning how to change that, but everything is already so different from how it was a few months ago. Before you came to me." She gulped visibly, as a last attempt to keep her emotions from taking over her and not allowing her to finish. "I don't know exactly who or what I have to thank for bringing you into my life. Because I love you, Santana, I can't even say how much, and I would do anything for you. I am starting to take matters in my own hands, and I promise I will keep doing it and make you proud, and I will never ever forget again how wonderful it is to have you in my life." A tear escaped her eye, as she said her next words in a broken, small voice. "Can you forgive me, please?"

And that was it.

I couldn't stand being there still for another second, watching her struggling with the idea that maybe I wasn't gonna accept her apologies and just turn my back to her, instead. So I didn't hesitate to do the best thing I could think of to wipe away that thought from her mind.

"Come here..." I said, pulling her into me with our still tangled hands. She almost threw herself forward, falling onto my lap and clutching my waist tightly as she hid her face in the crook of my neck. I held her against me just as tightly and repeatedly kissed her temple, hoping it would stop the small sobs that were now erupting from her throat.

When she had calmed down, I pulled back slightly to look into her eyes.

"There is actually just one thing that I need you to promise me." I said, wiping away with my thumb some of the wetness on her cheeks. "Never forget that I love you just as much. Okay?"

The smile that appeared on Brittany's face felt like the sun rising again after a bad storm. It washed away all the troubles and the anxiety that had pooled into my heart in the last couple of days and replaced them with the most welcome and familiar warmth. I leaned forward to kiss her and instantly loved the feeling of her lips still curled upwards as they connected with mine.

We stayed there for a while, holding each other and exchanging sweet kisses and loving touches, oblivious to our surroundings as we basked in the feeling of our regained closeness. However, something in the back of my mind started bugging me, and despite not wanting to ruin the moment, I knew I just had to bring it up in order to make sure that things were totally fine.

"Britt..." I murmured against her cheek. "I hate to bring this up now but... I have to."

"Anything, San." She quickly sais, pulling back to look at me.

"I might have told you in the wrong way but... I meant what I said about your dad. You know, about how he treats you and stuff..."

"I know." She sighed. "And I want to take care of it. But I need you to trust me with it. We already made a huge step in the right direction with our agreement, and I will do anything I can to keep going in that way... Please?"

I felt unsure, because the image of what had happened the previous Saturday was still very vivid in my head. I didn't trust her dad at all and I knew the situation was serious. But Brittany was right, she had managed to get much more than I thought could be possible to get from him; I had to give her the chance to deal with the issue on her own terms.

"Okay. But if anything happens, I'm right here, and be sure that I won't just stand there and look."

As an answer, she just threw her arms around my neck and kissed me one more time.

"I love you" she told me again when she pulled back.

"I love you too." I said back, smiling widely. "Hey, wanna go home? Here is great, but I'm pretty sure my butt is gonna freeze if we stay any longer..."

She chuckled and got up, then helped me back on my feet too. I was about to head towards the path I had come from, but I noticed Brittany was still standing in the same spot where we had been sitting, glancing around.

"You know, San... I think I'm going to say goodbye to this place."

" Why?" I asked, confused. "You love coming here."

"I do. But mostly, I come here every time I need a place to hide and I can't keep doing that. I need to start standing up for myself, you know... face the world. No more running away."

I fixed my gaze on her, without saying anything, and studied her for a while. When she noticed, she sent me a shy smile.

"What?" she asked bashfully.

"Nothing..." I put one arm around her waist, pulling her close to me. She mirrored my action and we started walking back down the small hill. "I just thought I knew how amazing you are, but you surprise me every time."

"I guess it's just my super awesome girlfriend's influence..."

"Oh man, you should totally introduce her to me then..."

"Sure. She's the one walking with a red Nike and a white Converse..."

_And with you by my side, nobody will even notice._


	21. Chapter 21

**As usual, I'm pretty late. But my exams start in a couple of weeks, and right now I'd need days to be 50 hours long in order to be able to do everything in time so... Just have faith I will do my best to keep up with the updates. **

**Enjoy!**

_Kurt:_ **Britt told me you guys made up?**

_To Kurt:_ **Of course ;-)**

_Kurt:_ **Ah, you ladies and your girl drama... And then you wonder why I'm gay. See you tonight Satan ;)**

I chuckled to myself and threw my phone on the bed, resuming my previous activity of looking through my clothes. I had a work shift planned for that night, but my friends were coming to Schuester's to have a couple of drinks. Rachel and I were the only ones working, but nights during the week were usually pretty calm at the bar, so we were positive we were gonna be able to enjoy some time with them too.

Of course Brittany was coming, and I was beyond glad. We had made up just two days ago, but we had been able to spend nearly no time together due to my job and a few tasks regarding her soon to be one. So yeah, it would have been better to be with her alone, but a group gathering was still better than nothing.

By the phone call and the not-so-few texts we had exchanged, I knew things between us were definitely fine again, which in some way was kinda crazy. Never had I thought such a big issue could be solved in such a small time, and I still had my reservations about her dad's behavior, but Brittany's positivity about their new arrangements was so contagious that I just couldn't be too bothered by any of that. Not to be forgotten, now that she was free to stay out for as long as she wanted there was really nothing left to prevent us from enjoying our relationship fully, and I really couldn't wait to start basking in this newfound freedom with my girlfriend.

Unfortunately my best friend wasn't as happy as I was about the situation. I hadn't told her exactly _everything_ about the argument for the same reasons I hadn't told Kurt; that worked against me though, because even if I had explained a million times that Brittany had apologized for everything and that I was absolutely fine, she still thought that I had just forgiven and forgotten so fast because I was "whipped as fuck" and that I should have made Brittany sweat a bit more for my forgiveness.

I didn't agree at all, because Quinn simply couldn't understand what had really went through since she didn't know the full story. Holding a grudge against Brittany just seemed pretty stupid, since the whole thing hadn't been just a simple quarrel, and her apologies had been more than enough to me anyway.

I knew Brittany still felt guilty; I could tell by the huge amount of sweet words I had gotten since we had parted ways the previous day. Not that she usually wasn't super sweet, but every text or call from her in the last couple of days had been clearly aimed to shower me with affection, almost like she felt the need to spoil me with attentions to make up for having hurt me. And even if she really didn't need to do that, I just let her do her thing, enjoying the special treatment way too much.

As I was still trying to pick a top that could match my new pair of skinny grey pants, my phone buzzed, signaling a new text. I grabbed it, already smiling since I totally knew who that might be.

_Britt:_ **hey baby :3 watcha doin?**

_To Britt:_ **Looking for the right outfit to impress my girlfriend. How does this look?**

I quickly threw a white and red blouse over the bed and snapped a picture of the attire, attaching it to the text I was about to send. Brittany was quick to answer.

_Britt:_ **it looks perfect, but I'm sure she thinks you're always the prettiest, no matter what you wear... :***

I grinned goofily at her adorableness and decided to tease her a little bit.

_To Britt:_** Shouldn't you be working out right now, instead of trying to charm your way into my pants? :-P**

_Britt: _** I'm on a break**

The text was followed by a picture of her sitting cross legged on the floor, her tongue sticking out, messy hair and glistening skin. Her sports bra and bare abs were showing, and I could tell it wasn't totally unintentional.

_To Britt:_ **You sneaky little tease...**

_Britt:_ **who wants to get into whose pants now? :P**

_To Britt:_ ** Cocky much?**

_Britt: _**silly :3 gotta finish my work-out, see you tonight. I love you :* **

_To Britt:_ **Love you more :-***

I stepped into the shower and under the stream of warm water, thinking that yeah, things were definitely fine again.

* * *

Sam and Mercedes were the first ones to arrive. I left my place behind the counter, quickly followed by Rachel, and went to hug Mercedes since I hadn't seen her in a while.

"Lopez, you better be inspired because I'm totally in the mood for some booze tonight!" she said, pinching my side playfully.

"I'm always inspired, duh..." I smirked back. I loved the girl; she was one of the few people I knew who could keep up with my sassiness, and yet still managed to be very friendly and down to earth. "Tho I wouldn't want to be one of your patients tomorrow."

"Uh-huh, nurse Jones is off work until next week, so get that booty behind the bar and work your magic..."

In a matter of minutes we were joined by Quinn, Puck and Kurt, and Rachel went to show the guys the table we had reserved for them. I went back behind the bar to make some drinks for a couple of customers and saw Quinn heading back towards me as soon as she had dropped her coat and purse on a chair. She came to rest her elbows on the counter and just stared at me as I put away some bills in the cash register.

"Spit it out, Fabray. I don't have all night."

"Where's Brittany?"

I raised my stare slowly, my hands still fumbling with money. "On her way here with Mike and Tina..." I said, knowing she still had to ask me the real question.

"And it's still all rainbows and unicorns, right?"

"Quinn," I cut her off, "don't even think about playing bitchy with my girlfriend tonight. You don't know anything, so stay out of our business. We clear?"

"Oh Santana, come on... you can stay mad for weeks for the dumbest things, but then she slams the door right in your face for the second time and the moment she apologizes you're all fine and happy again?"

"I thought we had already talked about this... I don't wanna stay mad. She is really sorry, and I totally believe her, so we're fine now. Why is it so hard to understand?"

Quinn huffed, because apparently I wasn't getting her point.

"I don't mean that you should be mad at her..."

"Yes, you do. You said it yourself."

"Ugh, ok, I said that, and maybe that would not be really wise. But at least you should take advantage of the fact that you're not mad to clear this out. Make no room for doubts... so there won't be a next time."

At those words, my expression softened, because I was starting to see why Quinn was being so insistent about the matter. She just didn't want to see me hurt and depressed again. And deep down I felt really grateful for having such a great best friend, but of course I was too much of a bitch to show that, so instead I just sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Fine, if it makes you feel better, I'll talk to her and make sure there's nothing left unsaid. But you better behave tonight" I warned her with a pointed finger.

"Yes, whatever... I'll be sweeter than a candy."

I kept my glance on her as she walked back to the table, where Rachel was starting to take note of everyone's order. Once she had sat down, Tina and Mike made their entrance, along with one stunning blonde I was particularly waiting for.

"Hey Santana," Mike said, already heading towards the others hand in hand with Tina, "gin tonic for both of us, thanks!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Well hello to you, and I'm fine, thanks for as..."

I didn't have time to finish my sentence, because I was pulled forward by a pair of hands on my cheeks, only to be met with soft, cold lips pressing against my own. The kiss lasted only a few seconds, and when it ended I opened my eyes and found bright blue ones staring back at me.

"... and that was one hell of a hi."

Brittany giggled and stroked her thumbs over my cheeks a couple of times before letting go of my face. In that moment Rachel appeared to her side and put a scribbled piece of paper on the counter.

"Santana, these are the drinks for the guys. And well, add whatever Brittany wants... Hello by the way!"

I stared amused as she engulfed my girlfriend in her usual awkward hug before skipping away in the back.

"So, what does Brittany want?" I asked playfully, turning my attention back to her.

"Mhm..." she muttered, looking at the long list of drinks beside the cash register. "This is gonna be so hard... You choose!"

"Oh well..." I said, chuckling lightly as I started filling the glasses with ice. "Any particular requests?"

"Nothing too strong, and maybe with a cherry in it... or a couple?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course. Go sit, I'll be there in a minute."

She tilted her head on the side and bit her lip, sending me a shy glance. "Can I get another kiss first?"

Like she even needed to ask.

I let go of the small shovel I was holding and let it fall back into the ice bucket before leaning over the counter, one hand on Brittany's shoulder to keep myself steady as I reconnected our lips. And I really had a hard time keeping it cool, because yeah, I was at my work place and there were customers, but really, her sweet, sweet taste was just addictive.

I reluctantly pulled back and stared at her as she headed to the table where the others were sitting, wondering how could I be so turned on just by watching her walk. Only when she had reached her chair I noticed Quinn was staring at me with a raised eyebrow; I visibly rolled my eyes and went back to making the drinks.

* * *

Half an hour later everybody was sipping at their drink, Mercedes had already finished her second one and Brittany was happily eating her beloved cherry. Well, cherries, since not only I had put two of them in her drink, but I had also brought her a small bowl full of them.

I was washing some glasses when she came to the counter again, with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"San? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Quinn mad at me?"

_That bitch. I knew it._

"Uhm... why?"

"She's been sending me weird looks for a while..."

I sighed, wondering if it was a good idea to bring up the issue in that moment. I didn't want to risk ruining the night, but I didn't like how Quinn's words had been lingering somewhere in the back of my mind, bugging me from the moment I had heard them.

_The sooner the better. Let's just get it done._

"Rachel, I'm taking five..."

I got out from behind the bar and grabbed Brittany's hand, guiding her towards an empty table in a corner where no one could see or hear us. Once we were sitting down, I realized I didn't really know how to start the conversation, but she started speaking before I could figure it out.

"It's because of our fight, right?" she asked in a small voice.

"Well... Yes. But she's not mad at you... She's just worried."

"Worried?"

"Yeah. That we got over it way too quickly and so it is bound to happen again. You know, like, in the same way..."

"Oh..."

She lowered her gaze to her fidgeting hands, fingers tangled together in an almost painful way, and I knew she had understood what I meant.

"And are you worried about that too?" She asked, still looking down.

"I... I don't know."

If possible, her shoulders slouched even more.

"Britt, listen...I'm not mad at you or anything, I'm really not. You apologized, and I don't need anything else, but what Quinn said got me thinking..."

I took her hands in mine and looked at her, but she still stared down at her lap.

"I'm used to go nuts on people. Like, I can be pissed for weeks even for the silliest stuff, and everybody knows it. But with you I just can't, and that's kind of a huge thing, because for the first time, I'd rather try and work things out than waste time on being pissed because of my pride or my stubbornness. You mean so much more to me than any of that. "

She finally raised her stare, still wearing a serious expression. As I continued, I tried to put all the honesty I could muster into my words.

"In a certain way, though, that gives you power on me... and it kinda scares me. It scares me a lot, actually. And it's okay, I am willing to get over this fear but I need to know that... no matter what happens or how bad we fight... you won't close yourself up to me again. Because that's what really hurts me."

In the back of my mind I registered how the words were pouring out of me almost on their own, like they had been there all along, just waiting for something to trigger the flow. And now, as I was confronting Brittany, the need of being completely honest had brought to surface feelings I had barely been aware of.

"And what hurts even more is knowing that even if you did, I would swallow everything. I would forgive you anything, Britt. No matter how bad it makes me feel."

I almost couldn't believe how much I had just exposed myself. I was letting Brittany in like I had never done before, uncovering one of my weakest spots just for her.

What was really outstanding, though, was that it didn't make me feel any less safe.

I had kept my eyes focused on hers all along, and now I could see them glossy with yet unshed tears, but she did her best to push them back and win over the quivering of her voice.

"I understand. And I can't even say how sorry I am that you were hurt because of me... I feel like I've betrayed you..."

"Brittany, it's okay. I don't want you to apologize again. It's just really important to me that you know how I feel. I want everything to be clear and out in the open."

She clutched my hands tighter. "I want that too. That's why I really hope you believe me when I say that I won't shut you out ever again. Knowing I had hurt you was the worst feeling in the world, and I'll do anything to make sure it won't happen again. I'll do anything to fix this."

I smiled and shook my head lightly. "There's nothing to fix... I believe you."

I leaned in and kissed her softly, then rested my forehead against hers as we held each other's gazes; after a few seconds I saw her lips curl upwards in a barely visible smile.

"Wanna know something?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Of course."

"The first time I told you I love you, I thought I really meant it. But now I'm not so sure."

I furrowed my eyebrows, because that was really not what I had expected to hear. And it wasn't really reassuring, either.

"Britt... what..."

"I mean, I knew I felt that way, I just... hadn't realized the extent of that feeling yet."

I pulled back slightly and stared at her intently, our hands still clasped together.

"It's not only about how happy or safe you make me feel. The more days go by, the more I realize that you're the most important person in my life, Santana. It's like... My heartbeat has matched yours, and I can't work properly anymore if we fall out of sync."

"Oh, Brittany..."

That was all I managed to say before the urge to bring our lips together again overtook me. The kiss wasn't long, but filled with love and understanding. I soon found myself into a tight embrace, Brittany's chin resting on my shoulder as she sighed contently.

"We're fine, right?" she asked as she pulled back.

"Of course we are. Better than ever."

I raised up from the chair and kissed her forehead before grabbing her hand to guide her back towards our friends' table. I kept our fingers interlaced even after she had sat down and smiled at her lovingly when our gazes met again. Also, I didn't miss Quinn's pleased look as she studied us not-so-subtlety, but I decided to ignore it and went back to my usual spot behind the counter with a huge grin plastered on my face.

* * *

"Well, looks like you guys are the last ones in here..." I announced, slumping down on the seat beside Brittany.

I had just finished with the washing, so I wasn't very pleased when I saw Rachel walking towards the table with a tray full of wine-filled glasses. "Oh, come on, did you really have to order that too?"

"Actually, yes." Quinn said, as Rachel set down the glasses before grabbing the last one for herself and sitting down too. "It's for a special occasion..."

When I saw Puck standing up with Quinn, I started considering a million possibilities.

_They're getting married. _

_No wait. What if she's preggo?_

_Oh my God, I'm not ready to be an aunt. _

_I bet it's Puckerman's fault._

"...Noah asked me to move in, and I said yes!"

"What...?" I asked, but my voice was covered by the girls hysterically congratulating Quinn and the guys fist bumping with Puck.

_Okay, that's no biggie._

_Wait... that means she's moving out. _

_Quinn is moving out. _

By the time the realization had sunk in, Quinn was standing beside me with a slightly alarmed expression.

"Santana... I know I should have told you first... But it's not like I'm moving tomorrow, we made the decision this morning and I just couldn't wait to share it with all of you and..."

"Quinn, it's fine" I said, my lips curling upwards into a smile, because hell, that was my best friend, and I was madly happy for her. "It was about time, if you ask me."

Quinn pulled me into a hug. "Shut up bitch, you'll miss me."

"That for sure, Fabray..."

I watched as everybody kept congratulating her and Puck, including Brittany. I felt relief wash over me as I saw her and Quinn hug cheerfully, no sign of the previous tension between them. We then all sat down and made a toast, wishing the couple all the best. As everyone went back to their chatting, Brittany sneaked an arm around my waist and inched closer to my ear.

"Hi."

"Hello beautiful..."

She puckered her lips and kissed my cheek. "I was thinking... Can I come over tonight?"

_FUCK YES._

"Fu... I mean, sure."

I couldn't believe I was already all hot and bothered.

"Great... Cause, you know, I had already kinda told my dad I wasn't gonna come home until tomorrow. Like, in the afternoon..." Brittany purred into my ear.

I was instantly on my feet.

"TIME FOR CLOSING GUYS!"

* * *

**You totally know where next chapter is headed, right?**


	22. Chapter 22

**...surprise! You didn't expect this to come so soon, did you? Well, what can I say... I started writing when I had a couple of free hours, and I got so into it that I wrote the whole thing without even taking a break. There's no major plot development, but in some ways it's still a big step forward for the girls... you'll see :-) **

**It would mean a lot to know what do you guys think about how this turned out so... write reviews, pretty please? **

**Enjoy! **

It took me another excruciatingly long half-hour to get the guys out and tidy up the place before being able to close. I finally slipped on my coat and got out of the bar from the back door with Rachel, hurrying towards the front where the others were waiting for us. I quickly spotted Brittany and Quinn a few feet away from the group of people, in what looked like a serious conversation. But as I walked towards them I saw Quinn smiling and nodding, before giving a light squeeze to Brittany's shoulder.

"Hey, ready to go?" I asked, stepping beside Brittany.

"Just a sec, I'm gonna go say goodnight to Kurt..."

I nodded and watched her walk away, leaving me alone with Quinn.

"What was that about?" I then asked, turning to my best friend.

"She explained a bit better how things went down between you two. I know, I know, none of my business" she quickly added, seeing my expression, "but she insisted. She said she wants to make things right."

I smiled and nodded again. "Yeah..."

"She was really sweet. And honest. And I swear to God it's impossible to be bitchy when she looks at you like that..."

I just bit down on my lip to keep my grin from growing too wide. "Don't tell me..."

We both chuckled lightly before being interrupted by Puck's arrival. "Hey chica, wanna take the car? My place is not far, we can just walk there."

"Are you sure? Britt and I can walk too..."

"Nah, take these" Quinn interjected, handing me the keys of our shared car, " and bring home your lady. See you tomorrow!"

Everybody said their goodbyes (Kurt sent me a wink before leaving) and in a matter of minutes I was left alone on the sidewalk with Brittany. I offered her my arm, which she took gladly, and we headed towards the car.

The ride home was pretty quiet, the only sounds coming from the radio, with Brittany occasionally humming to the tunes, and it felt so comfortable and familiar it was almost scary. I could totally see myself in that situation again in the future, going out with friends and then heading back together to my place.

Or_... Our _place?

But as soon as that thought crossed my mind I shook myself out of it because _hello? WAY. TOO. SOON._

In no time we were home, getting rid of our coats and shoes. I momentarily wondered why I didn't feel as tired as I usually did after a night shift, but as Brittany followed me towards the kitchen I was reminded that a blonde bombshell who I was lucky enough to call my girlfriend was there with me, definitely in the mood for something more than a sleepover. So yeah, that was probably the reason why my body was still very awake.

"Want something to drink?" I asked, opening the fridge.

"No, I'm fine, thanks" Brittany answered, hopping onto the counter. I poured myself a glass of water and took a couple of sips before setting it down into the sink and going to Brittany, who had been looking at me with a small smile the entire time.

She gently pulled me forward and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, her legs on either side of my waist, and before I knew it I was drowning into her warmth, my hands naturally finding their place on her hips as her tongue slipped easily into my mouth. Long, deep kisses were shared for God knows how long, and when our lips finally parted I felt drunk, out of breath and crazily turned on. Without a word, Brittany hopped off the counter, grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards my bedroom.

Only in that moment I realized how much I had been craving some more intimacy with her. My mind hadn't really been able to go back to our first time together due to our fight having happened only a few hours later and having completely taken over my brain. But now, as I was sitting on the edge of the bed, with Brittany straddling me and kissing me deeply again, I knew I wanted her more than ever.

She broke our kiss and took off both her sweater and her t-shirt in one swift movement, quickly tossing them aside before connecting her lips to my neck. I whimpered at the sensation of her tongue on my pulse point, all the while I let my hands roam freely over the smooth skin of her back. She kept kissing and nibbling lightly and started undoing the buttons of my blouse. I helped her getting rid of it, eager to get more skin-on-skin contact; she readjusted her position on my lap by shuffling even closer and I crossed my arms around her waist so that she was flush against me, our tongues playing with each other hungrily.

But at that point I felt something change. The unusual but welcomed confidence she had shown until that moment started to quiver, and I could tell that by the different way she had suddenly started touching and kissing me. It was feverish, but not in a lustful way; more like she was trying to cover some nervousness by keeping her hands busy, but it was no use. Neither her fingers or her lips ever stayed in the same place for more than a second, and her body didn't respond to any of my touches, no matter how gentle they were. I tried to let her do her thing, but after a while the situation became plainly awkward.

"Britt... Britt... Wait..." I said, leaning away from her. "You're kinda freaking me out like this... What's wrong?"

She stared at me for a couple of seconds, then let out a long sigh and covered her face with her hands.

"Ugh... God..."

"Hey... what happens?" I asked as calmly as I could, lightly pulling at her wrist to make her face me again. She finally moved her hands to rest on my shoulders and looked at me, taking a deep breath.

"I have a confession to make" she blurted out.

"Uhm... okay?"

"Okay. So...I really liked it last time. You made me feel awesome, and I wanted to do the same for you. So I ... thought about something I could do for you. Like, I'm not experienced, but I'm not totally naive either ... I know what kind of stuff girls do in bed."

I was still pretty confused. "And...?"

"And tonight I felt super confident about it. We're both in the mood, we have the house for ourselves, everything is in place. But then we... get to it and... here I am, panicking because I pretty much have no idea of what I'm doing and I'm probably just gonna screw it up."

I felt a smile finding its way onto my lips and wondered why I hadn't thought about it, because_ it's just her second time, of course she's still nervous. _

"Ugh... I feel so dumb..."

"No, no, please..." I quickly said. "I think it's really sweet of you. But I just love being with you, it doesn't matter how. There's no need to figure out stuff by yourself. We're getting there together, right?"

"Yeah, but... I really wanted to do this. For you."

"Show me then."

She was still obviously hesitant. "And what if it sucks?"

"It's with you, it can't suck."

"Saaan, seriously... What if it does?"

I honestly thought she was overthinking it, but it was understandable after all.

"Okay well... If it does, we stop. Simple as that. We can try something different... hell, we can let it go and just watch tv. There is nothing to be worried about, it's just you and me. I know that sex is still kind of a big deal for you... And it's totally right, because _it is _a big deal between us, but... just take it easy, okay?"

She breathed out loudly again. "Okay... You're right. I'm sorry."

My answer came in form of a gentle kiss pressed on her lips, that instantly curled upwards in a relaxed smile. We were soon back into the moment, tongues tangling together and hands roaming freely, until she lightly pushed me back towards the mattress by the shoulders. I leaned back on my elbows and when she unzipped my pants I raised my hips, allowing her to take them off completely. I scooted further in the middle of the bed as she stood in front of me, taking care of her own jeans. Once she had gotten rid of them, she went back to straddle me and as I laid back against the pillows I was able to fully enjoy the sight of her unhooking her bra and letting it slowly fall down her arms.

I almost embarrassingly shot up and leaned forward, eager to give some attention to her chest, one of the many parts of her body I had already grown to love. She giggled lightly, and how could I blame her; I had reacted as a teenager who was getting to see his girlfriend's boobs for the first time. But soon enough she was whimpering in pleasure as I used my hands and my mouth to give equal attention to both of her breasts.

At some point I felt her hands reaching for the clip of my bra, and soon enough cold air hit my bare chest. Once again she pushed me back gently, only to lean forward and land short, wet kisses against my collarbone. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of her warm, velvety tongue dancing lower and lower against my skin, leaving behind a small trail of wetness. She rested a hand flatly against my stomach and momentarily stopped the ministrations of her lips. I opened my eyes just in time to see her looking at me, eyes bluer and deeper than ever, before taking my left nipple in her mouth. I closed my eyes again and moaned in pleasure, my hand reaching for the back of her neck to keep her close to my chest.

By that time I was in utter bliss and aching to get some release. My hips seemed to have a mind of their own as they shot upwards, looking for some kind of friction, and by the moan that escaped Brittany's throat, I could tell she was just as eager. I could feel the heat of her core against my lower stomach, driving me even more crazy.

"Britt... Please..." I whimpered, desperately needing her to do whatever she had in mind for us.

She detached her lips from my chest and glanced up at me, before kneeling by my side and reaching down for my underwear with unsure fingers. Again, I raised my hips, encouraging her to take them off. She slowly slid them down my legs, sitting up a bit in order to remove them completely. Once they were off, her own panties followed quickly, and in a matter of seconds she was back to kissing me deeply.

I didn't acknowledge the hand that traveled lower and lower down my stomach until it was barely an inch from where I needed it the most.

My breath hitched as she dipped her fingers through my wetness and a groan of pleasure escaped my lips when she started exploring my folds. I urged her to lean forward and kiss me again, all the while she kept moving her hand against me in deep, slow strokes. Wanting to make her feel just as good, I tried to reach down for the spot between her legs, but a hand on my wrist stopped me.

"Wait..." she murmured against my lips, "not like this..."

My first reaction was of slight confusion, because in a matter of seconds Brittany had removed her hand from my center and was now kneeling on the bed again, biting her lip like she was trying to figure out what to do next. But then she grabbed my right thigh and moved it further apart from the left one, and when she pulled one of her legs in between mine I realized what she had in mind.

I gulped loudly, hoping to be right about her intentions and thinking I was in for a hell of a ride.

Needless to say, the moment she lowered her hips and tentatively grinded her core against mine, I lost it.

"Oh God... Fuck..." I cried out.

Her lips parted as she began to move slowly. "Is this okay?" she asked, panting lightly.

"Yes, yes...Don't stop... Shit..." I muttered, shamelessly eager to feel more of her.

We adjusted our positions, her body deliciously curled around mine to grant us the most friction possible while still being able to keep our mouths glued together, her palms pressing into my shoulders as leverage.

With the small part of my brain that wasn't clouded by arousal, I silently thanked the universe for Brittany's toned, flexible body that was sending me straight to the gates of heaven. We picked up speed, and I started grinding against her with more force while keeping my hands around her waist. Our kissing became some sort of clumsy brushing of our lips and tongues as we breathed heavily into each other's mouths.

I was becoming more and more unable to keep myself from moaning loudly (not remotely as loud as Brittany, though) as I felt my release getting closer. Brittany probably sensed the need to increase the rhythm and leaned back, almost sitting up completely. She took a hold of my left thigh and started pushing down heavily and rapidly with her pelvis. I propped myself up on one elbow and took a hold of her hip with my other hand, helping her increasing the depth of our motions.

I looked up at her, and my heart almost stopped at the sight. Eyes closed and lips parted, her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, she was the sexiest thing in the world. I had a plain view of her breasts bouncing and her abs tightening with every motion of her hips, and as I let my ears be filled with the delicious, loud sounds coming from her throat, I fought back against the need to fall off the edge as much as I could, but with a few more motions I came harder than I had ever done before

"Ugh... Ahhh... Fuck, yessss..."

I felt almost unable to come down from my high as waves of pleasure kept rushing through my body. Brittany was still moving on top of me, desperately seeking her own release. With the last bits of strength I had left, I raised my hips to meet hers again, and just when I felt about to give up to the exhaustion she began to squirm above me, crying out in pleasure as she finally reached her orgasm.

After a few, intense moments, she collapsed on top of me, matching my heavy panting as we both tried to catch our breath. For a few minutes I was unable to do anything but lazily stroke the skin of her thighs, that were now on either side of my waist. Only after a while my mind was clear enough to form a coherent sentence.

"Holy... Shit..."

Well, kinda coherent.

Brittany lifter her head from the crook of my neck and faced me. "...huh?" She mumbled, visibly flushed.

"Where the hell did that come from?!" I managed to ask.

"I... uhm... I dunno... But it was good, right?"

"Are you kidding me? That was MIND. BLOWING." She grinned, pleased and slightly embarrassed as I kept going. "Seriously... Are you sure you've never done that before?"

"Oh man... No... But speaking honestly, I did Google a couple of things to... uhm... figure out the mechanics and stuff."

We both chuckled at the same time, and I gladly welcomed her lips when she leaned forward to give me a soft, loving kiss. She then sat up, still straddling my lower stomach, and I began to trace the contour of her abs with my pointer finger, the other hand still gripping her toned thigh.

"You know... Right now I'm glad that Quinn is moving out..."

"What? Why?"

"Cause baby, you're kinda loud."

Her eyes widened, sending me into a fit of giggles.

"Then you should stop cursing that much, dumbass!" she told me, poking at my ribs. We ended up laughing together as I tried to escape her merciless pokes, which was kinda impossible since I was held in place by the firm grip of her thighs. Only after I declared surrender she stopped; she interlaced our fingers and brought our hands together above my head to rest against the pillow.

"I love you so much, Britt-Britt."

"I'm pretty sure you're saying that only because of the amazing sex we've just had..." she teased me with a playful tone.

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Are we really playing this game?"

"What game?"

"The 'do-you-love-me-how-much-do-you-love-me' game."

Brittany moved from her position on top of me and came to lay down beside me, pulling the blanket with her as she snuggled into my side, one arm draped over my torso and our legs tangled together.

"Maybe."

"Well..." I put one arm around her back and reached for her chin with my other hand. "I am utterly, madly, deeply in love with you, Brittany S. Pierce. And the fact that you've got crazy stamina and a body that came right from my wildest dreams is just... A plus. "

She giggled and I pecked her lips, then pulled back to see her bright, beautiful smile that made me melt in an instant.

"You're a goofball, Santana Lopez. _My_ goofball. And I love you so very much, too."

* * *

**I really hope I didn't get too carried away with this and it turned out ok...**

**Anyway, this was because I know how much you all love your bottom Santana ;-)**


	23. Chapter 23

**... I'm still alive. But I am studying so much that I barely have time to eat and sleep, so finding time to write is really hard. But I swear i haven't given up on the story at all! And I know this chapter is pretty much a filler, but it was needed to settle a few things before diving into the last part of the story. **

**Hopefully I'll be able to go back to regular updates soon so... stay tuned and keep up with the feedback! **

"I'm gonna die."

"No, you won't, you're gonna do great!"

"I'm gonna be super awkward and they'll end up hating me. And then I'll die."

"Britt..." I sighed through the phone. "Come on... You love dancing, and you like kids, everything is gonna be fine! Besides they already know you, right?"

"Yeah, but last time there was Mike leading, now I have to do everything on my own..."

By the weird sounds I could hear from time to time I could totally tell Brittany was chewing on her nails, which was her main sign of anxiety. She usually bit her lip too, but that was for the shy-nervous kind of thing and this was not the case. Right now she was just plainly freaking out.

"It's okay to be a little anxious, it's your first day... But this is the perfect job for you! I am a hundred percent sure that by the end of the morning you'll be loving it."

Brittany kept silent for a few second, then let out a loud breath, probably an attempt to calm her nerves.

"Okay, I can do this."

"Of course you can... Go and show 'em six years old who owns the place!"

It was a relief to hear a giggle coming from her, and I instantly found myself smiling too. It was contagious.

"What time do you finish?" I asked her.

"The lesson is over at 1 P.M. but I won't probably make it out of the studio before... uhm... around two?"

"Oh, want me to come pick you up? I can convince Will to let me go a bit sooner..."

"Actually I have to do a couple of errands this afternoon, maybe I can stop by your place later?"

"Sure thing, I'm gonna be helping Quinn with the last boxes, just text me when you're on your way."

My roommate's moving out process had turned out to be pretty fast, definitely faster than I had expected. Once she had made sure I was fine with it, she had just started collecting her stuff with Puck's help and with a few back and forth rides over the weekend she had basically moved everything to her soon-to-be new house. She had taken a couple of days off from work in order to get the whole thing done, and I had volunteered to help her gathering her last few things that afternoon.

"Well, I gotta go now, wish me luck!" Brittany said, and I was happy to hear a hint of excitement between all that anxiety in her voice.

"You don't need it, babe... see you later!"

I put my phone back into my pocket and I turned around to see Will staring at me disapprovingly, his arms folded over his chest. But by the small smile that he was sporting, I knew he wasn't really mad.

"Santana, you know I never say anything when you guys use phones... But you're constantly on that thing lately."

"But it was only a minute! It's Brittany's first day with the new job, she's so anxious..."

The smile on his face grew wider. "Is that the lady who has you all happy and texting every twenty seconds?"

"Uhm... Yes..."

"Well, fine then, but only because I kinda owe her. Your drinks have never tasted better, people ask specifically for you! I guess being in love really did good to you, huh?"

No matter how lame I thought Will was being, my cheeks heated up pathetically and I didn't answer, I just kept staring down as I resumed my previous activity of drying the glasses. I was a grown-ass woman who blushed like a teenager whenever someone mentioned her girlfriend. But reality was, Will was totally right. It had taken me 24 years to realize how great it felt to be in a stable relationship, but eventually I had gotten there, and now I had no intention of going back; the fact that my girlfriend was basically a gift from heaven only fueled my certainty.

* * *

"Ugh... You said you had moved nearly everything already..."

I was climbing up the stairs of Puck's (and now Quinn's) building for the third time in a row, panting loudly, a heavy box in my arms and my best friend following me in pretty much the same condition. There was no elevator and, of course, the apartment was on the third floor.

"Stop complaining and move your butt!" Quinn said as we finally reached the door of her new home. I placed the box on top of one of the piles we had made in the corridor and she did the same. "Come on, we only need to carry the tv and then we're done" she told me, patting on my back. I groaned and followed her back down the stairs.

After a bit of struggling, we managed to bring the huge LCD upstairs and placed it into the living room. I stared at it for a second, my hands on my hips as I tried to catch my breath. "Treat this baby wisely, Fabray."

"Oh don't worry, Noah is gonna treasure this thing. You should have seen his old tv..."

I looked around and finally allowed myself to take in the surroundings properly. The house was nice, slightly smaller than mine but with the same amount of rooms; the kitchen was bigger, the bathroom smaller. Quinn had yet to settle down all of her stuff, but years of dating Puck had made sure her touch was already well visible all over the place.

"So... that's it?" I finally asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"This is weird." I stated. "I mean... You moving out... I kinda expected it to be something big, you know? Instead it just... happened."

"Don't tell me. I still can't believe I'm not gonna have to share the bathroom with you ever again."

"You're gonna share it with a guy... That's much worse."

We both chuckled in unison; I then stepped forward and enveloped Quinn in a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss your bitching so much..."

"And I'm gonna miss your grumpy ass." She replied, squeezing me just as tight.

After a minute or so we both let go, and I felt my lips mirroring Quinn's slight smile. "One last thing..." she said, reaching for her purse. She rummaged in it for a while before pulling out a pair of keys. "I don't need these anymore."

I hesitantly grabbed the keys from her extended hand. "You don't wanna keep them?"

"No, or it will take me ages to get used to the fact that this is my home now."

She did have a point, but thinking about Quinn needing to be buzzed in whenever she came by from now on was kinda weird. In that moment I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, and I quickly reached for it.

**Britt:**_ there in ten minutes, can't wait to see you bb :*_

I grinned and put my phone away; she was definitely gonna hear a _told you so _later.

"I gotta go now, Brittany is coming over" I then told Quinn.

"Oh, how did her first day go?"

"Probably great, judging by her text."

"Well, I won't keep you then, I need to start taking some stuff out of those boxes anyway." She puffed as she looked around. "I only hope I'll find a place for everything."

"Have fun! And call me if you need anything."

I waved at her as I walked out of the apartment, still feeling a bit weird about her not coming back with me. But it was a good weird, and at the end of the day I was just happy to see her being so positive about starting this new chapter of her life.

I drove back home as quickly as I could, not wanting to make Brittany wait outside in case she arrived there first. Luckily, when I pulled into my road she was nowhere to be found yet. I noticed an empty parking spot and after a few maneuvers I was able to make the car fit in decently. It was only when I had stepped onto the sidewalk that I spotted my girlfriend in the distance walking towards my building from the opposite direction. She noticed me too and momentarily slowed her pace.

She stared at me with a playful smile, then at the condo's door, then at me again.

_Oh, hell no._

We sprinted forward at the same time, but from the moment I started running I knew there was no game. She reached the front door first and immediately threw her back against it.

"Not fair!" I whined as soon as I got there too. "You've got longer legs!"

"But you were closer, so we're even" she said back with an amused smile.

"And I'm tired, I've been lifting boxes all day!" I tried again.

"Awwww, poor baby..." Brittany mocked me. She threw her arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug, and I couldn't help but smile and relax into her embrace as she started kissing my cheek repeatedly.

"Come on" I said when I finally pulled back, "let's get inside, you have to tell me everything about today!"

She nodded happily and stepped aside, letting me open the door before I started pulling her with me by the hand. As we made our way up the stairs I felt a wave of tiredness hit me, and it was with relief that I finally entered my apartment. I hung my coat and threw my shoes to the side before slouching towards the couch and unceremoniously plopping down on it.

"Mmm... San... What happened to your tv?" Brittany asked, looking at the empty spot.

"Part of my deal with Quinn. I got the car and she got the LCD."

"Wow... That must have been an expensive television..."

"Yeah. That, and the car was pretty cheap. I figured I'd need it more, and Quinn can use Puck's one."

She padded towards me and sat down on the edge of the couch beside my feet. "Why don't you go take a shower? I'll make something to eat in the meanwhile."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks babe..." I said grateful. She just smiled lightly and patted my thigh, before standing up again and heading to the kitchen. I got up too and went straight for the bathroom, now craving the feeling of warm water washing away some of my tiredness.

Twenty minutes later I was joining Brittany inside of the kitchen, freshly showered and way more relaxed. I had decided to just slip into my usual sleeping attire, which consisted of a black tank top and a very worn-out pair of grey shorts. Maybe they didn't make me really attractive, but I felt pretty comfortable about wearing anything with Britt around. After all we had already been wearing _nothing_ around each other, so...

"Are sandwiches okay? Your fridge is kinda empty, and so are your cupboards..." Brittany told me when I stepped beside her.

"Yeah totally..." I answered. I wasn't that hungry, and they looked pretty tasty anyway. "Actually, do you wanna take the tray and eat in my room so we can watch tv? It's small and crappy but better than nothing..."

"Like breakfast in bed only it's dinner? Sure thing!"

I smiled at her excitement and took out the tray. We set our plates and glasses on it and I then lead the way to my bedroom. Brittany settled everything on the bed and then carefully sat down cross legged. In the meanwhile I had managed to find the remote control, so I turned the tv on, set the volume on low and joined her.

"So, spill it. How was the first lesson?" I quickly asked as I took the first bite of my sandwich. Brittany's eyes immediately lit up with excitement.

"When I got in I was super nervous. All those kids were looking at me and I thought I was gonna act weird like I always do and make them hate me." She quickly took a sip of her water and then continued. "But then I told myself to just say something or else I was gonna faint from the anxiety, so I introduced myself. And suddenly they were all smiling and saying their names, and they were so shy and cute I thought I was gonna melt. And it all went down naturally from there, like we had so much fun! It was awesome. And the second lesson too, only I wasn't worried anymore."

" See? I told you! You're perfect for this job!" I said with a big smile. "How old are the kids?"

"Between six and eight... Some of them are super tiny!"

By that time we had both finished our meal and I was curious to know more. I took the tray and settled it on the floor beside the bed."But aren't they supposed to be at school in the morning?" I asked, momentarily confused.

"It's a particular initiative Mike came up with. His project is meant to help kids with socializing and relational problems. Music is really therapeutic in that sense, and making them learn how to move together and follow the same rhythm helps them bonding. A few schools liked the idea, and Mike arranged a schedule so they can all bring the kids over once a week."

"Wow... that's amazing... I had no idea Mike was working on something like that."

I was really impressed by the whole idea, and also glad to know that Brittany's job was definitely a fulfilling one. Now I was sure that she would love it even more, being the thoughtful, sweet person she was.

"Yeah, it's great. And I love being able to help. You know... with_ my_ social anxiety issues and everything... and dancing has always helped so much, hopefully it will work for those kids too."

"Britt... I am so proud of you." I said, unable to contain myself, and I meant it with all my heart. She blushed lightly and looked down, biting her lip in that way that was so hers. I felt like a puddle of happiness and love.

"Well... It's all thanks to you San..."

"No, no..." I quickly interrupted her. "_You_ deserve this for being the smart, brave, wonderful person you are. I may have helped showing your awesomeness to the others, but it was already there."

She gave me that look, the one that made me feel loved, needed, special, like I was the best damn thing that had ever happened in her life when I was a hundred percent sure it could only be the other way around. But then her lips were on mine, and it was easy to drown any thought in the feeling of her gentle kisses.

* * *

"You look like Esmeralda. You should totally dress up as her sometime..."

We had been lying in bed for a while, snuggled up together, watching The Hunchback of Notre-Dame while chitty chatting here and there. It was nearing the end and I felt myself growing more and more sleepy, but I didn't want to doze off yet. It was hard though, because I was laying with my head on Brittany's chest, completely engulfed in her warmth and her sweet scent. Plus, her boobs were really comfy.

"Really? Cause I've always thought I would be a perfect Pocahontas... And you could totally pull off a female version of John Smith."

"Uhm... You have a point..." she mumbled, running her fingers through my hair absentmindedly.

When the credits appeared on screen I didn't move from my position; I grabbed a fistful of Brittany's t-shirt and tightened my hold on her waist, nuzzling my nose into the soft fabric and inhaling deeply, my eyes closed. I wanted her to stay so badly.

"Tell me you're not going, please..."

"I can stay if you want?" she asked, almost timidly.

"Yeeeessss..." I slurred, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep with her beside me.

That made her giggle, and I felt her moving beneath me. She stretched towards the bedside table to grab her phone and started typing . Seconds later I heard her phone buzz, signaling she had gotten a text.

"Okay, dad warned, I'm staying..." She said as she set the phone back where it had been, then went back to caressing my hair.

"Is he working the night shift?"

"Yup..."

We both didn't say anything for a while, and even though it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, I knew we were both trying to avoid facing the "Mr. Pierce" topic any further. Things had been going really smoothly with him lately, and apparently he had loosened up a lot about allowing Brittany her well deserved freedom, but I was still far from trusting him, or liking him in any way.

But then Brittany spoke again.

"I think he figured it out... That I'm dating someone."

My eyes shot open. "What?"

"Yeah, it's just... I am being very elusive about where I go and who I am with, but I can't have _that many_ sleepovers with Kurt, you know..."

I lifted myself from Brittany's chest and sat up, the picture of Brittany's father bursting through the door and breaking my face with his fist already settled in my head. I gulped.

"And now what? What do we do? I mean... could he find out...?"

But I realized she didn't seem half as panicked as I felt, and I couldn't help but wonder how. If her dad found out about us, I had good reasons to think it would have been a disaster. I was pretty sure he hated me after our last encounter, and there was also the small detail that I was _a girl._

"Calm down San... He can't find out it's you. He has no clue I might be seeing another woman... and yeah, he hinted at me being giddy all the time, but he's cool with me keeping my stuff for myself, so he won't ask about it."

Ok, I could breathe again.

"So there's no chance he's gonna come to Schuester's and kick my butt?"

"You're safe, I promise" she said with a reassuring smile, and that was enough to calm me down completely. After all, she knew her father much more than I did, and if she was so chill about it than I had no reason to worry.

Hopefully.

"Alright... Let's get under the covers?" I asked, not wanting to dwell on it too much.

I crawled under the blanket while Brittany got up from the bed and started taking off her clothes. Even if I had been able to catch much more than a glimpse of her naked body previously, I found myself shamelessly staring as she slid her pants down her legs and then proceeded to take off her t-shirt. At that point I expected her to get rid of her striped knee-high socks, but instead she just easily unclasped her bra and let it fall down her arms and onto the pile of clothes.

"Nice outfit..." I joked as she walked back towards the bed, her chest in full view.

"I just hate sleeping in a bra... But without it I can't stand wearing a shirt. And my feet get cold easily..." she explained as she joined me under the blanket. I turned the lights off and slipped one arm around her back, immediately feeling her taking a tight hold of my waist.

I liked holding her when she was naked, and it wasn't a sexual feeling. She trusted me so much that she was willing to fall asleep in my arms while in her most vulnerable state, and her trust was a gift I wanted to treasure as much as I could.

"Britt... before I doze off... I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure?"

"I... uhm... I'm going back home for New Year's Eve... to Lima... And I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

I had tried to play it cool, but as the seconds went by and I wasn't getting an answer from her, I knew she had understood the implications of my suggestion. I immediately regretted dropping the bomb in that moment.

"Like, to meet your parents?" she finally asked.

"Yeah but... Only if you want to, and if you feel comfortable enough... and you can think about it cause there is still plenty of time... I don't want you to feel like you have to, and if you think it's too soon..."

My rant was interrupted by her placing a finger on my lips to silence me. I felt a wave of heat rush through my face, and I couldn't believe I was still able to embarrass myself in front of her that much.

_Why can't you just keep it together for once, Lopez? Jeez._

"San... I... I would love to come with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I just need to come up with something to tell my dad, but I guess it's not a problem... I only hope your family will like me..." she said in a small voice.

Saying I was relieved would have been an understatement. "Oh, believe me, they will. My mom will be so happy, I'll call her tomorrow... But if for any reason you change your mind, you only have to say it okay?"

"Okay... Thank you."

I leaned forward to kiss her, but thanks to the darkness my lips landed on her nose. We both giggled at that and I leaned in again, this time delivering my kiss exactly where I wanted to. We kept kissing until I felt her lips ceasing to move, sign that she was falling asleep.

"I love you, San. Goodnight..." she mumbled against my shoulder, her voice barely more than a whisper.

And it wasn't like I had never heard her saying that, but for reasons that were much more clearer in my heart than they were in my head, that made me feel so emotional that I barely managed to answer without quivering too much.

"Goodnight. I love you too."


	24. Chapter 24

**...I'm back! And I can't even begin to say how sorry I am it took me more than a month to update, but I've been through some busy days, full of though moments when I wasn't really in the mood for writing... Which is also why I don't particularly like how this chapter came out, but I decided to publish it anyway because right now I feel like I really need to keep the story going in order to get back on track with it. This said, I hope you willl still enjoy it, and I'll promise to do my best to get back to my weekly updates!**

**To new readers... your reviews would mean a lot to me! And to my usual readers and reviewers... sending you a lot of love as always!**

The morning after I woke up lying on my stomach, with a half naked Brittany completely draped over my back, peppering kisses all over my neck and shoulders. The pleased groan that escaped my mouth led to her acknowledging I was awake and pulling me into a full make-out session. Which led to me getting turned on. Which led to my clothes flying across the room. Which led to Brittany being introduced to the joys of morning sex and me to the wonders of her inexperienced yet talented fingers finding their way to my inner sweet spot. And even though I would have gladly spent my whole free day making love to her, I eventually had to let her slip away from my arms and watch her as she quickly recollected her belongings before darting out of the room in order to not be late for her second day of work.

Time went by fast, and I was almost surprised to find that my happiness didn't seem to be fading at all. Growing bored had been one of my biggest concerns about committing to a serious relationship, but not even once I had experienced that feeling with Brittany. Yes, we were becoming progressively more comfortable and accustomed to each other, but that didn't bring any kind of boredom between us. I loved every minute I got to spend with her, and holding her hand, hugging her or kissing her made me feel all warm and giddy every single time. On top of that, I knew she felt the same way about me, and it was absolutely wonderful.

So I had all the reasons to be in a great mood as I drove to her place, about to pick her up and start a nine-hour-long car ride to Lima. I felt pretty excited at the idea of Brittany finally meeting my family, because even if it was kind of a big deal, especially since I had _never_ brought a girl home before, I was absolutely sure I wanted to take that step forward.

All my positive feelings left me as soon as I saw Brittany already waiting for me on the sidewalk with _Mr. Pierce_ standing right beside her. Before I knew it I was already panicking.

_He knows._

_He's here to kill me with his hands._

_He won't let Brittany see me ever again. _

_Of course not, that's why he'll kill you!_

But as I progressively got closer I noticed Brittany's expression was far from worried. She was staring at my car with nothing but the hint of a smile, and her dad looked definitely calm too.

_Yeah, just like the first time you saw him... and then look what happened. _

Before I had time to really realize what was going on I was pulling the car to the side and stepping out of it, leaving the engine running.

"Hi San!" Brittany chirped immediately, and stepped forward to hug me briefly.

_Okay, he obviously doesn't know. You can calm down. _

"Good morning, Santana."

I was definitely taken aback by the formal kindness of Mr. Pierce's voice as he addressed me, and also by the fact that he had remembered my name. Maybe Brittany had reminded him of that, but still...

"Good morning, sir" I said as politely as I could, trying to cut through the awkwardness of the whole situation. I reached for the back of my car and opened the trunk so he could set Brittany's bag in it. Once he was done, he turned to me again and I felt another wave of anxiety hit me.

"So, Brittany already told me you don't want to split the gas, but are you sure? It would only be fair."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He was being _nice_.

I managed to answer surprisingly fast. "Totally sure. I invited her, and I would have gone by car even if she hadn't decided to tag along so... no need to split."

He nodded and didn't push the issue. "Okay, well... Do you want me to check the car? You know, it's a long ride to Lima. Just to be sure you make it there safe."

"I have a friend who's a mechanic and he did a full check-up last weekend. But thank you, really" I quickly added out of fear of being considered rude in any way. I was relieved to notice that Mr. Pierce seemed once again pretty satisfied by my answer.

"Don't worry, dad, we'll be fine" Brittany said, earning a nod from her father as a response.

"Well, I won't keep you any longer then. Let me know when you arrive, okay?"

"I will!"

Mr. Pierce gave Brittany a brief hug and then, to my complete astonishment, offered me his hand to shake. But no matter how dumbfounded I was, I knew well not to refuse any kind of peace offer coming from him, so I quickly brought myself to outstretch my hand and return the handshake. With one more nod and a small smile to his daughter, he turned around and went back inside of the building.

Only when we had climbed into the car I was able to speak again.

"Holy crap. What was that?"

"I know, right?" Brittany said, overjoyed. "It went super well!"

"So he knew it was me who invited you?" I reasoned, because Mr. Pierce hadn't seemed surprised to see me at all.

"Yeah... I just thought that it was okay to tell him the truth, since he thinks you're just a friend. He said it was fine, but I could tell he was worried. And not because of you, he just... he has agreed to loosen up and everything, but he still worries a lot. So I told him he could come and talk to you when you came to pick me up. That's why he was here... Oh and I'm really sorry I didn't warn you, but I didn't want you to freak out or..."

"It's fine, Britt. Really. I mean, it went down pretty smoothly, right?" I asked, allowing myself to smile at the thought that I had finally been able to have a decent, polite conversation with my girlfriend's father.

"Totally!" She grinned widely.

I let out a content sigh and brought my hands to the steering wheel before turning to Brittany. "So, ready to go?"

"Kiss first?"

I leaned forward and made sure her dad was really gone before landing a sweet kiss to her lips.

"Nice beanie, by the way..." she said with a smirk when I pulled back.

"Nah, I hate it..." I joked, because she had bought me that very same black beanie as a Christmas present, along with a scarf and a pair of gloves, that of course I was now wearing all the time. We had agreed on buying each other something that could actually be useful, which had ended up in me returning the present with a whole new workout outfit that she had been drooling over for at least a month.

She shoved me playfully in response, and I just turned my attention back in front of me, pulling out of the parking spot and back onto the road.

"Lima Paradise, here we come."

* * *

We had both agreed on avoiding unnecessary stops since the longer we kept going, the sooner we could reach our destination. But after nearly five hours of driving and only one short break to pee, we both really needed to get off the road for a while. We stopped at the first service station we ran into, and I quickly refilled the tank before parking the car and heading to grab something for lunch.

"I knew I should have brought something from home... this stuff looks nasty..." Brittany mumbled while looking at the poor choice of food the bar offered.

"Kinda... but we can just grab a couple of toasts. Knowing my mom, there will be enough food for a hundred people for dinner. We better not get full now."

We finally managed to pick a couple of toasts that seemed somehow edible and sat down to eat them. For the most part of the journey we had been able to keep each other entertained by chatting, singing and even playing a couple of car games. Brittany had been in a really good mood for the whole morning but now, as we ate our food in silence, I grew aware that she seemed to be bothered by something. She chewed slowly, her eyes staring blankly down at the table, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Britt, you okay?" I asked tentatively.

"Huh? Oh yeah... I just... I need to use the restroom for a sec..." she replied, but she didn't get up from her chair, almost like she was waiting for my approval. Or like she was waiting to see if I believed her.

"Okay, I'll call my mom in the meanwhile..."

Before I could blink she was already disappearing into the bathroom.

_What the hell just happened?_

But my confusion only lasted a few seconds, because my mom answered the phone before the first ring had actually ended.

"Honey? Where are you?"

"We're half-way. We're having lunch right now..."

"Oh, good, good..." She said in a low voice, then went right to the screaming place." I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU GIRLS TO BE HERE!"

I wasn't expecting that, and I ended up dropping my phone into my plate, which was luckily empty.

"Why the hell are you yelling?!" I asked once I had gotten the phone back to my ear.

"Because my baby's got a girlfriend and I'M SO EXCITED!"

"Mom, I swear to God that if you embarrass me even once..."

"Nonsense, darling, nonsense! I will only make sure dear Brittany has the best time here!"

"Knowing you, that doesn't appease me at all."

"Oh, Santana, always so grumpy... Sometimes I wonder how that girl can stand you..."

I probably should have been offended by her statement, but _come on_, it wasn't like I had never asked myself the exact same thing.

"Uff, whatever mom... Anyway, we'll be there around dinner time as planned, okay?"

"Be careful and don't drive too fast!"

"Byeee!"

I hang up with a small smirk on my face. No matter how loud and inappropriate my mom could be at times, I couldn't wait to see her again; I loved my family to death and I missed them all a lot.

I was distracted from my thoughts when Brittany returned to her seat in front of me, still looking troubled. I studied her as she started chewing on her nails, then I thought back to my phone call to my mom and then it finally clicked.

"Brittany... you know you have no reason to be nervous right?"

She finally raised her stare back to me, and I instantly knew I had figured out her worry.

"I'm freaking out, San. I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I accepted to come... I mean, it's obvious that it's going to be a disaster!"

"What? Why would it be a disaster?"

"Because I have a master in social awkwardness and I'll just be a shy mess and your family won't like me. And I really want them to like me..."

Despite her total panic mode, I couldn't help but smile at her adorableness. "Britt, listen to me. I know them well, and I can tell you that it's not that hard to get on their good side... They're really easy-going and they basically like everyone. And I have no doubt that they will love you."

"You think so?" she asked, doubtful.

"Definitely. They're loud and nosy, but they're good people, and I'm sure they'll find plenty of things to like about you."

Brittany nodded, looking a bit relieved but not yet convinced.

"Look... We're not going there to ask for approval." I started again. "I want you to know my family because they're a big part of who I am, but that doesn't change the fact that our relationship is about us and us only. They could think the nastiest things about you, it wouldn't change my feelings for you in the least. But that won't happen, because you're the most amazing girlfriend in the world and they won't believe I got so lucky. Actually, my mom's already astonished..." I tried to lighten the mood, and it was a relief to see a small smile graze Brittany's lips.

She sighed deeply and reached for my hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out... I just really care about making a good impression."

"You will. And if you get nervous, think about that time when your dad threw me out of his house before we could even start a conversation... You'll feel significantly better."

We both chuckled at the same time, and the previous tension finally left Brittany's features. We took the last bites off our toasts and headed back to the parking lot; in no time we were back on the road. Brittany offered to drive for a while, but I knew she hadn't gotten behind a wheel in years, so I refused (much to her relief).

We were about one hour away from Lima when we began to notice a thin layer of snow covering the surroundings; the sun was going down, leaving behind a reddish-colored sky that reflected on the white of the snow. I had always considered myself a big city kind of girl, and New York's skyline was definitely able to grant some great views, but looking at the fields that surrounded the highway at dawn, I found the sight breathtaking.

I had always felt caged in Lima all throughout my teenager years, so I had never regretted my decision of moving to New York and building my life there; yet, as we approached that small, stupid city in the middle of nowhere, again I couldn't help but look forward to going home.

And this time the best part of my life in New York was coming home with me.

* * *

"Aaaand... Here we are!"

Our long, long ride was finally over and I was pulling into the driveway of my parents' place. I parked the car right in front of the garage and shut down the engine, then glanced at Brittany, who was back to looking pretty tense.

I gently patted on her thigh. "Ready to go?"

She gulped visibly before turning to me. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go..."

I knew at that point trying to convince her that things were gonna be fine was pretty much useless, so I just got out of the car in silence and hoped she'd loosen up after actually talking to my parents and seeing that they were very far from scary.

We grabbed our bags from the trunk and walked towards the door, Brittany following me a couple of steps behind. There was no need to ring the doorbell, because the moment we reached the front porch, the door swung open and a small fifty-year-old ball of energy also known as my mother threw herself at me, nearly knocking me over in the process. I managed to regain some balance and somehow returned her embrace with the arm that wasn't busy carrying my bag.

"SANTANITA! YOU'RE HERE!"

"Mom... Mom... Jeez, you're choking me..."

She pulled back and held me at arm's length, studying my face carefully. "Ah, look at you... you don't eat enough!"

I rolled my eyes, yet couldn't help but grin because that was exactly what I had expected her to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I missed you too..."

She eventually let me go and turned her attention to Brittany, who had been looking at the interaction the whole time. "Won't you tell me who's that pretty girl over there?" my mother asked with a warm smile.

"Of course. Mom, this is Brittany, my girlfriend" I said as she shyly stepped forward.

"It's really nice to meet you, Mrs. Lopez" she said politely, outstretching her hand.

But my mom was definitely not the type for formalities, so she just threw her arms around her as well. For a moment I thought it would be too much for Brittany, with her being shy and still pretty guarded around strangers; but then I saw her features relax, and thinking about how much my girlfriend actually liked physical contact, I realized my mom had done just the right thing to make her feel at home.

"It's my pleasure, darling!"

When she pulled back, she was met with Brittany's full, bright smile, that same smile that had made me fall for her in the first place; she cupped her cheeks affectionately. "Oh, if this isn't the prettiest young flower I've ever seen! Santanita, you really did well..."

Before either of us could reply, she stepped aside and motioned for us to go inside. "Come on in, girls, you must be so tired... DIEGO! YOUR SISTER'S HERE! COME SAY HI AND HELP WITH THE BAGS!"

"Told you they were loud..." I muttered to Brittany with a smirk, gently guiding her inside with my hand on her back.

The moment I was past the doorstep I spotted my brother quickly climbing down the stairs. Before I knew it I was being lifted off my feet and enveloped in another tight hug.

"Don't tell me you've missed me, dude..." I said once he had let me go, and punched his shoulder lightly. Luckily, Diego and I had always had a good relationship, and even if I didn't talk to him as much as I wanted he was still one of the people I trusted the most.

"Pffff, of course not, I've been too busy with all my ladies to think about you..." he joked back. "Hey, how's it going? I'm Diego, nice to meet you!" he then said, offering Brittany a friendly handshake that she gladly accepted.

"I'm Brittany! And I'm fine, thanks... I've heard a lot about you!" Brittany replied, visibly more at ease.

"Only good things I hope..."

"Actually" I interjected "I only told her how you would still be a hopeless wanker if I hadn't taught you how to approach a girl properly..."

He just smirked back at me."Keep telling yourself that lie, sis... Get comfortable, I'll bring your bags upstairs!"

As he disappeared with our stuff, Brittany and I took off our coats and then headed to the living room, where I slumped down on the coach as soon as I got within reach. Brittany sat down beside me and studied her surroundings quietly.

"Feeling better?" I asked her with a smile.

"Yeah... Your family seems lovely." She grabbed my hand and started caressing my knuckles with her thumb. "I'm really happy to be here."

"And I am really happy you're here too" I said back, lifting her hand to my mouth and kissing it lightly.

In that moment I heard the front door open and not even a minute later my dad appeared in the living room, with his arms outstretched and a big, kind smile appearing from under his thick moustache. I quickly got up and threw my arms around his neck.

"Ah, I've missed you, little girl..." he said once I had let him go. "And this young lady over here must be Brittany, right?" he asked looking at her as she got up from the couch too.

"Yes, Mr. Lopez" she said, offering him a bright smile as they shook hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, just call me Bernie, everybody does. As you've probably learnt from my wife, we don't like formalities in this house!"

"Exactly!" my mom interjected as she appeared from the kitchen. "And of course I'm just Maribel as well! Now come on, time for dinner!"

I saw it coming, I tried to stop it.

"Right, I'll go call..."

"DIEGOOOOOOO! COME DOWN!"

* * *

We were only a few bites into our dinner when my parents' curiosity started to get the better of them. My mom was obviously the one to do the talking. "So, Brittany, were you born in New York?"

"Oh, no, I'm actually from Chicago, I moved there only a couple of years ago."

"Ah, I understand, there's nothing as appealing as New York City for young people..." my dad said. "I remember how excited Santana and Quinn were about moving!"

"Well... We were kinda forced to move there. My dad found a job opportunity, and he had been unemployed for a while so he really had to take it." Brittany explained.

"Oh, darling, it must have been hard for you and your mother... Leaving your life in Chicago behind like that..." my mom said sympathetically.

I froze on the spot, my hand holding the fork middle-air, my eyes immediately on Brittany.

But she remained really calm and composed. "Actually, my mom died when I was sixteen."

"I'm so sorry, Brittany... We had no idea..." my dad said, noticing the half- embarrassed, half-sad expression of his wife, momentarily at lack of words.

"No, of course, there's really no need to apologize" Brittany answered kindly. "And I honestly think she would have loved New York, anyway.

Thank God the conversation went on pretty smoothly from there, and I found myself mostly enjoying the view of all the most important people of my life chatting and laughing together with ease. I only interjected once or twice to help Brittany explain the intricacies of how we had gotten to know each other, but other than that I just kept quiet and watched as my parents were progressively falling in love with her shy gracefulness.

Also, I sneakily kicked Diego a couple of times when he tried to mock me for my loving glances.

By the end of the night we were all full, happy and relaxed, and both Brittany and I started to feel the tiredness caused by our long car ride.

"Brittany, don't even think about it!" My mom said as she saw her getting up to help clean the table. "You girls must be tired, go have a nice shower, lay down, I'll take care of this!"

"Mmm... 'anks Mom, we're really dead..." I said in between yawns, and I was already heading towards the stairs when her hand on my forearm stopped me.

"Diego will show you to your room, Brittany... Santana will be there in a second."

I wanted to protest because _hello?_ I had been the one driving all day long; but of course my mom wouldn't let me get away without some sort of talk, and if I had to be honest I was really curious about what she had to say about my girlfriend. So I just nodded, and Brittany smiled briefly before saying goodnight and following my brother upstairs.

My dad sat down in the living room and turned the tv on, so I was left alone in the kitchen with my mom; I took some water from the fridge and sat on the counter."So?" I asked her with a smirk as she started loading the dishwasher.

She turned towards me and let out a dreamy sigh. "Your Brittany is a ray of sunshine, mija. A wonderful, wonderful young woman... She's smart, and sweet, and apparently she can cook well, and she's good with kids! What else could I ask for? Absolutely wonderful!"

"Yeah... She's pretty special..." I answered with a hint of a blush.

"I can tell she cares about you a lot" she said with a sweet smile that turned into a death glare within a second. "You don't even think about doing something stupid, we clear?"

"Wha... No, of course not! I love her mom... I'm super serious about us, I swear!"

My mother's features relaxed again. "Oh, darling, it's so great to hear that. I thought this day would never come..."

"Honestly, me neither." I chuckled. "But being committed to her feels really good, and I... I want a future for us..." I admitted shyly, taking a sip of water to hide my goofy grin.

"Then why don't you ask her to move in with you?"

My eyes widened in an instant and I almost choked on my water. I coughed under my mom's unimpressed stare for a while, before being able to sputter out an answer.

"Woah, I don't know, I mean..."

"Don't you two get along well?"

"Yes, of course we do but..."

"And now that Quinn is gone you're there all by yourself! It's the perfect moment, and it would make me feel so much better to know that..."

"Mom!" I finally managed to interrupt her. "It's not that simple, okay? She's not out to her family yet..."

"Oh..." my mom said with surprise, her mouth shaped in a small "o".

"Yeah... and no matter how serious I am, we've been together only for a few months... and she's only twenty..."

Reality was, the thought of Brittany moving in had been in the back of my mind since the moment I had been told Quinn was moving out. But it was a really complicated situation, and I was full of uncertainties about the whole thing. Hearing my mother suggesting the very same idea out loud only made both my desire to make it happen and all the obstacles along the way look bigger.

"Honey... I understand... Just do what makes you happy okay? There's no rush after all. I'm just so excited to see my baby finally acting like a grown up woman!"

That made me chuckle again. "Wow... I don't even know if I should be flattered or offended..."

My mom just kept quiet, a small smile grazing both of our lips as we fell in a comfortable silence. I took a last sip of my water, hopped down to my feet and placed the glass in the sink, ready to head upstairs. I said goodnight to both of my parents and slowly made my way towards my bedroom, feeling my sweet tiredness grow with each step.

* * *

As soon as I entered my old room I was hit by my high school memories once again. Everything was still exactly in the same place, from my school books in the library to the cheerleading trophies on the shelf. On the left side of the room there was a door that led directly into the bathroom, and judging by the fact that it was slightly ajar and I could hear the water running, Brittany was in there showering.

I carefully poked my head inside and saw steam coming from behind the shower curtain. Smiling to myself I checked the other door, the one leading to the corridor, and found it already locked. Still careful not to be heard, I quickly got rid of my own clothes, threw them somewhere on the pavement and slid inside of the shower.

"San! Crap, you scared me..." Brittany managed to say before I hungrily pressed my lips to hers. For a moment she seemed to be more than willing to return the kiss, but when my hands started to roam all over her body she grabbed both my wrists and pulled back.

"No, no, I don't think this is a good idea..."

"But Britt... You've been your adorable self all day, and you know how much that turns me on..." I said trying to inch forward and get her to kiss me again. She smiled but put a finger over my lips to stop me.

"We're not gonna have sex in your parents' house while they're downstairs!"

"Why not? It wouldn't be the first time I do that..."

"That's way too much information, San... and definitely not a turn on."

I sighed. "Fine. Can I stay though?" I asked hopefully.

She pecked my nose. "Sure. Turn around, I'll wash your back..."

Despite not getting exactly what I had hoped for, the shower turned out to be pretty enjoyable. Brittany took her time in slowly massaging my skin with the sponge as I let myself relax under her careful touch. Twenty minutes later I was laying in bed, answering a text from Quinn as I waited for my girlfriend to join me. When I raised my stare from the phone, I let out an audible gulp.

Brittany was wearing a silk, golden nightgown, with a bra-like upper part that perfectly hugged her chest, while the hem of it barely reached her mid thighs.

"First you deny me sex and then you wear_ that_?" I asked wide-eyed.

"Do you like it?" She asked bashfully. "I figured I couldn't just sleep in my panties while we're here, and this is the only way I could solve my B.I.P. for when I don't have a bra."

"Your what?"

"Boobies Itch Problem."

We both burst out laughing, and I still couldn't believe how she could go from being a sex goddess to a total goofball within seconds. She finally joined me in bed, and I immediately snuggled into her side.

"So it went well, right? With your family I mean..." she asked after a while as she slowly started caressing my back.

"Totally. They already love you, Britt. My mom basically told me you're an angel and if I screw this she'll beat me up."

She giggled and sighed happily. "I'm glad, I really like them too..." she simply said, tightening her hold on me.

"Told you there was no reason to worry..." I mumbled, on the verge of falling asleep.

"Yeah, I'll remember that for my next girlfriend..."

"Hey!" I complained, pinching her lightly in the ribs. "That was mean..."

Brittany just giggled in response and landed a kiss on top of my head, instantly making me forget my lame attempt at being mad at her. She switched the lights off, and I was about to doze off when she spoke again in the darkness of the room.

"Actually, you know what? I can't even imagine living a life where you're not included... Where we're not together. It just feels wrong..."

With a smile so big that she could probably feel it through the fabric of her nightgown and a heart already doubled in size, I answered without a second thought.

"I know what you mean, Britt... I really do."


	25. Chapter 25

**Hello! So, in this chapter I've mentioned some stuff about a college and I basically have no idea if it might be utter bullshit or not. And same goes for all the football stuff I've mentioned. I'm not from the U.S., so I only have a vague idea of how things work there. Anyway, it's a really brief passage and it doesn't really influence the story, so I hope you'll forgive me if something I've said is wrong :-)**

**I'd like to thank all of you who have been loyal to the story this far, and welcome all the new followers! I hope I'll hear about your opinions soon!**

That morning, when I had felt Brittany getting out of bed at half past eight, I had gripped her waist as tight as I could and begged her to stay under the covers until noon, but she had refused to do so, saying it would have been rude towards my parents and that she didn't want to waste time in bed anyway since we were only staying in Lima a few days. She had then asked if we could go out for a walk, so I could show her around a bit, and even though I still had my eyes closed, just imagining her half-pout-half-grin she was most definitely wearing in that moment had been enough to push me out of bed and on my feet.

So that's why I was now walking in the cold of the morning with her and Diego, who had decided to join us since he apparently had nothing better to do.

"Why the hell do you wake up this early if you don't have school?" I asked my brother as I carefully tried to avoid slipping on the ice of the sidewalk.

"A sportsman needs a regular life, I can't hide in bed until lunch time like you used to do, not even on free days."

I playfully scoffed and waved him off with my hand.

"You play football, right?" Brittany asked him.

"Best tight end of Ohio, I'm telling you" he said with a proud grin, pointing to himself with both of his thumbs. "Oh, you know what, a dude from the University of Chicago is coming to see our next game! He's gonna look out for somebody worth a scholarship in our team..."

"I know they've got a really good football program" Brittany answered, "my ex boyfriend's brother was their ... wide receiver I think? We used to go see him play all the time. And Chicago is a nice city to live in, after all."

"It's definitely a great opportunity" my brother confirmed. "If I manage to be picked for the scholarship, I'll hire you for a tour of the city."

"Deal!" My girlfriend replied happily, then turned to me. "I could show you where I was born, too. That would be so cool, right?"

"Oh, yeah, and we could all go take a beer with your ex and talk about old times... So cool."

Ok, that hadn't been a nice thing to say, and I realized it as soon as the words left my lips. But I was cold and sleepy, aka grumpy as fuck, and hearing Brittany talk about her previous life with that Chicago dude had made me snap. Childish, nonsensical and pathetic, yes. I wanted to apologize right away, and I was sure I was about to be told I had just been an utter bitch.

But hey, my girlfriend was an angel.

"I will ask you again when you're not this sleepy, grumpy ass..." Brittany simply said with a sweet smile, then pressed her lips to my cheek and pulled me close to her by the waist, providing the warmth my body was desperately seeking. I instantly felt even more embarrassed about my dumb display of bitchiness and kept looking down as I mirrored her motion, bringing my hand around her back to rest on her hip as my only answer.

I was so lucky to be with someone who knew me so well and who didn't mind dealing with my flaws.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt bad; after a few minutes, as Diego was buying all of us coffee and donuts from a street vendor, I leaned in and murmured my apology in Brittany's hear.

"I'm sorry. And I'd love to go to Chicago with you."

She turned towards me and kissed me softly. "I know, silly..." she then told me with a grin.

* * *

"I think I've gained ten pounds in two days..." I said as we all got out of the restaurant. My parents had made a reservation so my mom didn't have to cook dinner for everyone again; that didn't spare us from another huge meal, though, as they had basically asked for everything that was on the menu.

"At least I know you'll go back to New York with a full belly!" my mother obviously replied.

Diego left us right after dinner, headed to a party hosted by one of his teammates; we decided to go to the main square, where a few stands had been placed and from where we would soon be able to see the midnight fireworks. My parents spotted some friends as soon as we got there, so Brittany and I parted ways with them and decided to continue the small tour on our own.

"I know it's nothing like Times Square but... at least they try" I told Brittany as we slowly walked through the small crowd of people, hands intertwined.

"Oh, but I really like it here, there's such a warm atmosphere!"

She had been nothing but enthusiastic about everything we had done and everywhere we had been so far, and seeing her having such a great time was making me enjoy my visit to Lima much more than usual. After a while spent at the used book stand, we bought some homemade hot chocolate and slowly made our way to the middle of the square, midnight quickly approaching.

"Come here, I wanna take a picture..." Brittany said, taking her phone from her purse. I smiled and complied, stepping behind her and resting my hands on her hips, my lips against her cheek as she snapped the photo.

"Satisified?" I asked once she was done.

"Yup..."

She kept tapping on her phone and I furrowed my brows slightly. "Britt, are you posting it online?"

"Why? You don't like it?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course... but what about your family seeing it and stuff?"

"It's just on Twitter, none of them will see it, don't worry."

"Mhm... okay..."

Brittany raised her stare from her phone and looked at me. "Hey, I mean it, it's fine. At least my followers will know why I've neglected them so much in these past months... Here, done" she added with one last tap.

I smiled and allowed myself to relax again. As soon as she had put her phone back in her purse, I pulled her against me by her hips and crossed my arms around her waist. She brought one arm to rest on my shoulder and slowly started stroking my cheek with her other hand. I sighed happily, feeling enveloped in a warm bubble despite the winter cold, oblivious to anything but her sweet scent and her deep blue eyes. Somewhere close and yet distant a countdown started.

"This is by far the best New Year's Eve of my life."

"Mine too."

Brittany's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. Lima or New York, it doesn't matter. All I wanted was to spend it with you."

I felt her hold on me tighten, her face now barely inches from my lips.

_3,2,1..._

I barely heard the booming of the fireworks, all my senses focused on the words that Brittany whispered into my mouth.

"Happy New Year, baby."

"Happy New Year, my love."

Soft lips, smooth tongue, sweet taste. For a very long time, nothing else mattered.

* * *

One more day left in Lima, and I totally knew how I wanted to spend it.

The cold from the previous day had seeped into my bones and I had no intention of getting a single foot out of the door. All I wanted was covers, pillows, old DVDs and, most importantly, Brittany's cuddles. I couldn't think of anything better than snuggling up with her on the couch for the whole afternoon, exchanging lazy kisses with some lame move in the background. Or maybe we could stay in my room, away from any possible family intrusion. And with a few well-aimed kisses on her neck, some light scratching on _that_ spot just under her ribs and the right words whispered in her ear I was pretty sure I could even convince her to give up on the whole "no sex" policy she had established under my parents' roof.

The moment I heard my mom suggesting parlor games right after lunch, I saw all my plans flying out of the window.

"Moooooom, come on, that's the lamest thing ever!" I complained as she took out an old Monopoly.

"Come on, darling, we only gather a few times a year, your mother just wants some family time" my father said diplomatically.

I puffed loudly. "Diego! You hate this stuff! Help me out!"

I saw him smirk from where he was sitting on the floor, already choosing his piece. "Sorry, I'm enjoying your torture way too much..."

"I like Monopoly! I tried to play with Kurt on our last sleepover, but it's not fun if it's just two people" Brittany said cheerfully, immediately earning a big smile from my mom. Not only did they get along well, but they had also gotten pretty close in the past couple of days, and of that I was more than happy. My mother had immediately started treating her almost like a daughter, and I could tell Brittany appreciated it. Maybe it was nice for her to feel some motherly affection after a long time without it.

Not wanting to be the heartless monster who ruined the atmosphere, I just kept my mouth shut and sat down cross-legged on the floor, waiting for everybody to be settled and ready to play. And after a while, as I glanced around and saw all those people I loved so much chatting happily and enjoying their time together, I admitted to myself that my afternoon hadn't turned out to be bad at all.

My dad was the first one to be kicked out of the game, so he volunteered to go make some hot chocolate for everyone. By the time he was back, my brother had been proclaimed winner of the game, while I came in second place.

"You see? This is why you're going to college and I didn't" I joked.

"Come on, this game is based 99% on luck. I still beat your ass tho..." Diego replied.

I just smiled and took a big bite out of my biscuit, then took a sip from my cup. I heard a small giggle coming from Brittany, who was sitting right beside me, and turned to her.

"What?"

"You've got something... wait..."

She dampened her thumb with the tip of her tongue and brushed it a couple of times against the corner of my mouth.

"Here, done."

Now, I was pretty sure we had done way more intimate stuff than that, but it didn't stop me from blushing like an idiot. "Uhm... thanks..."

I felt everybody's stare on me, and I refused to look up from my cup. Even though my dad and Diego were reasonable enough not to embarrass me with any comment, the same couldn't be said for my mom. And apparently, she couldn't just stick to staring.

"Santanita, will I get to see you kiss your girlfriend before you leave?" she asked with her biggest smile and sparkling eyes.

I almost choked on my biscuit. "Cough... cough... wha...?"

"You girls are so pretty together! It would be like medicine to my heart!"

"That's creepy, mom!"

"Oh, just once, to make this old lady happy!"

I knew that there was no way out of it. If my mom wanted something, she always managed to get it, especially when she used the "old lady" card. I glanced at Brittany, and even if she was wearing a shy smile, she told me with her eyes that it was okay. Still red as a tomato, I leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips that lasted not more than a couple of seconds, and yet gave me tingles like every other kiss we had shared. Thankfully it was enough for my mom, who clapped her handsexcitedly as soon as our lips locked.

"MY BABIES! I'M SO HAPPY!"

A second later she was in front of us, kissing both of our foreheads before announcing she was gonna go start making dinner and disappearing in the kitchen. My dad smiled and shook his head as he watched her walk away, while Diego had a dumbfounded expression.

"Woah... That just made me want to stay single until my forties..."

* * *

"...make sure she eats, and if she does something wrong you just call me, okay?"

Brittany just smiled and nodded in reassurance as I rolled my eyes at my mom. However, I gladly accepted the bone-breaking hug she gave to both of us, as well as my brother's and father's ones. It was early morning, and we were ready to start our journey back to New York, so after a few more hugs and goodbyes we finally got into my car and pulled onto the road. I sent a last glance to my family waving at us and thought that, no matter how annoying they could be, a part of me already missed them.

Again we tried to stop only when strictly necessary; but after nearly three hours of non-stop driving we decided to have a short break to stretch our legs. At the service station, while Brittany was buying coffees, I noticed the sun was really bright despite the cold and went to look for my shades in the glove compartment. As I rummaged through the mess I found something that caught my attention.

Quinn's old pair of keys for my apartment. Apparently I had put them there the day I had helped her moving out and then just forgot about it. My mind went straight to one place, so quickly I almost scared myself.

_Nah nah nah. Santana, no way. No matter what your mom says, it's too soon._

_Then why does thinking about it feel so good?_

_... _

I put the keys back into the compartment and tried to push all those thoughts away. Since Brittany wasn't back yet, I took my phone and went to check Twitter; as soon as I did, I remembered I still had to see the picture Britt had posted a couple of nights before. I found the tweet on top of my mentions and smiled as I read the caption she had written for the photo.

_**First NYE with my baby... hopefully, the first of many! I love you **_** snixxkeepsitreal**

In that moment Brittany opened the door and hopped onto the passenger seat. "Here's the coffee, and I also bought some chips for later if we get..."

I cut her off by grabbing her face with both of my hands and crashing her lips against mine in a short but powerful kiss.

"...hungry?" she finished when I detached my lips from hers. "Not that I'm complaining but... you okay?" she asked me with a small grin.

I answered with another question."First of many, huh?"

She immediately understood what I was referring to and bit her lip, still grinning. "Hopefully?"

"Definitely."

We got back on the road and stopped for lunch after another couple of hours. Having had no trouble with traffic, we were slightly ahead of our schedule, and in no time we found ourselves more than halfway through the journey back home.

Still a couple of hours to go, I noticed Brittany had gone pretty quiet. I didn't made a big deal of it, thinking she was probably just tired, but when she spoke again I realized I had been wrong.

"San? I wanted to tell you something..."

"Sure?"

"I... I've been thinking about it for a while. And now that I've met your family, I'm even more convinced it's the right thing to do."

"What thing?" I asked, slightly alarmed by her serious tone.

"I wanna tell my dad about us."

It was like everything around me stopped as my brain tried to process what I had just heard. Waves of heat started washing over me out of nothing, and as my mind began to let in the meaning of Brittany's words, I felt a drop of cold sweat on my temple. All of this in merely a couple of seconds.

After what felt like an eternity, I managed to swallow the lump in my throat.

"Brittany, you can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because he's gonna go insane when he finds out!"

"He won't! Haven't you seen how better things are now?" Brittany asked. "He changed so much, and it cost him a lot, but he tried because he loves me! And that's why he will understand..."

"You know it's not that easy! I don't wanna see you back to a dark place because of him... And he might have changed, but you can't blame me for not trusting him!"

"You don't have to trust him, you have to trust me! Why don't you believe me when I say that it's gonna be fine?"

"I do trust you, Britt, it's just... I think it's a really bad idea, okay?"

Brittany crossed her arms and shook her head, looking out of the window. "I thought you were serious about us..."

"What is that supposed to mean? Of course I'm serious about us!" I asked in disbelief.

"Then why can't you see that if we don't tell my dad our relationship will never go further than this?"

In all honesty, I had no answer for that. I knew well that any plan of a future together implied coming to the fore with Brittany's father, but for some reason I had always pushed that thought aside and forced myself to see it as an issue still far away. And now that she was bringing it up, even if what she was saying was completely right, I just couldn't bring myself to face the idea of telling Mr. Pierce we were together out of fear of agreeing to something that could seriously ruin our relationship.

The rest of the ride home was silent and full of tension. A storm was going on in my head as I kept thinking about Brittany's words, my mother's ones, those damn keys hidden in the compartment and Mr. Pierce's display of anger. I felt stuck, and I couldn't see a way out of this situation that didn't imply either taking a big risk or giving up on something that I badly wanted.

Before I knew it I was pulling my car to the side in front of Brittany's building, and the moment I saw her heavy expression I knew I just couldn't let her go like that.

"Britt..." I said, grabbing her wrist lightly, "I'm sorry. You're completely right about what you said, it's just... I'm worried things won't go as planned... and I don't wanna lose you because of that."

She turned to look at me, her features softening. "I understand, San, I do."

"You say your dad's much better now, and I believe you, but this is a big thing. A part of me really wants you to tell him about us, but..."

"I won't leave you, no matter what" Brittany interrupted me. She brought her hands around my neck and looked at me right in the eyes. "Even if he gets mad, or yells at me, or tells me it's wrong, it won't change a thing between us. But none of that will happen, I promise."

Despite my internal turmoil, I couldn't help but smile at that. I scooted closer to her and brought my arms around her waist. She noticed how I was letting her words wash away my doubts and smiled too. "Listen," she told me, "I won't tell him tonight. I can wait until tomorrow, just to make sure he's in a good mood. I'll explain everything and we'll talk about it, and no matter what he says I'll make it clear that we're staying together. Okay?"

I still had a million worries in my head, but seeing her being so calm and positive eventually brought me to agree. "Okay..."

Her smile became bigger, and she leaned forward to kiss me. I let her kiss reassure me, and found comfort in the familiar warmth she brought me; when she pulled back I actually started believing things were gonna be fine.

"You know," she started again, caressing my cheek lightly, "maybe I could come to your place right after I tell him. I'll bring the good news, and then we can spend some quality time together..."

"Quality time?" I asked with a playful smirk.

"Yeah... You're not the only one who's had a hard time keeping her hands to herself these last few days..."

We kissed again, and this time there was much less comfort and much more tongue. Slow and deep, I was soon out of breath and crazily turned on. "Babe..." I panted against her mouth "...you better go or I'm just gonna take you here in the car..."

She smiled and pulled back, then got out of the car and quickly took her bag from the trunk. As I watched her walk towards the door of her building I felt a sudden urge that I just couldn't fight, so I rolled down the window and called her back. "Britt, wait!"

She turned around and headed back towards the car. "Yes?" she asked with mild confusion once she had reached me. I quickly opened the glove compartment and took the keys that once belonged to Quinn.

"If I'm not there when you come to my place tomorrow, you can use these. And then you can keep them, of course. If you want?"

I saw Brittany's smile grow impossibly big. "Are you sure?"

"Yes" I said without a doubt. "I really wanna make a step forward.. but like, not _too_ forward... If that is okay for you too."

"Yeah, yeah, definitely okay!" Brittany quickly answered, taking the keys from my hand. "This is... Oh God..."

"And I also thought that maybe you could bring some clothes, you know, for when you stay over. I could empty a drawer for you, I have plenty of space..."

This time Brittany's answer came in form of another kiss right on my lips, that I gladly returned as I felt relief wash over me. When she pulled back, she brought her lips to my ear.

"I'm not gonna let you leave the bed for the whole weekend..." she whispered, then quickly kissed my cheek and before I knew it she was waving at me and disappearing inside of the building.

No matter how worried I had been only minutes before, I started driving home grinning like an idiot and with a good amount of confidence. It was impossible for me to think that things weren't gonna work out just fine.


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey guys, just three things:**

**1- I know I've already said it so many times, but I'm not 100 % happy with this chapter. But really, between all the things I'm dealing with right now, this is the very best I could do, and I don't wanna make you wait for chapters too long anyway. I hope you'll still like it.**

**2- I've started writing down the plot for my next story, so stay tuned.**

**3- ... you'll know what's the third thing by yourself at the end of the chapter. **

I was heading out to go shopping and then have lunch with Quinn. She had texted me the previous evening asking to meet so we could catch up and talk about our winter holidays, and since I hadn't seen her in a while I had immediately agreed. Also, it was a nice way to take my mind off the thought that in a very few hours Brittany was gonna tell her dad about us.

Reality was, though, I had just kept growing more and more optimistic, mostly thanks to my girlfriend's encouraging texts that she had kept sending me ever since we had parted ways on the previous day. After dinner she had told me that Mr. Pierce had seemed in a great mood, probably thanks to the few days off he had finally gotten. Apparently he had asked a lot of questions about our time in Lima, and told Brittany that he had spent New Year's Eve toasting with his coworkers in a nice restaurant not far from Time's Square, so he had had a good time even if Brittany had been away.

Basically, the odds seemed to be in our favor, and that really helped us in keeping a positive attitude.

I had just parked the car in front of Quinn's building when I got another text from Brittany.

**Britt:**** dad's out now, gonna make him the best lunch ever and then tell him**

_Crap, this is it._

_To Britt_: **You sure you don't want me to be there? **

**Britt: **** it's better if I talk to him alone. But we r totally gonna plan a dinner together soon, k? **

_To Britt:_ **Ok. Remember that I'm super proud of you. I love you. **

**Britt:** **love u too, so much... and I'm gonna show you as soon as I get to your place ;-)**

I felt myself shivering in anticipation, and before putting my phone back into my purse I went to look at our NYE's picture one last time. As I did, I couldn't help but think about how many things had changed during those months Brittany and I had spent together. How much _she _had changed. Because even if she was still shy and reserved, I had seen her getting out of her shell in so many ways. From the girl who had been too insecure to even upload a picture of herself on Twitter, who had run away from me when I had tried to kiss her, to this wonderful, brave woman who wasn't afraid to show everybody how much we loved each other, and who was now willing to face her father in order to give us the chance of a future together.

The thought that she was doing it _for me_, to be with _me_, almost took my breath away.

In that moment I simply decided that everything was gonna be okay: there were so many great things ahead for us, I refused to believe anything could really stop us from getting them all.

My train of thoughts was interrupted by Quinn knocking on my window.

"Hey, ready to go?"

I quickly got out of the car and hugged my friend, before following her down the street towards a few nice shops we had only recently discovered.

"So, how did it go in Lima? Did your parents like Brittany?" Quinn asked me as we entered the first shop. From the look on her face, I could totally tell she had been dying to know about it.

"Too much, probably" I answered with a chuckle. "Seriously, one more day there and they would have tried to convince her that she's too good for me."

"Ha, obviously..."

"My mom basically told me that if I let her go she will kick my ass."

"Well, I'm pretty sure she has no reason to worry about that, right?" Quinn asked with a raised eyebrow. She then grabbed a blue skirt and headed towards the changing rooms.

"Yeah... I mean no... no reason" I mumbled as I followed her. "I'll be with Brittany for as long as she wants me..." I then added, blushing lightly.

Quinn didn't reply, but I clearly saw her usual smirk as she closed the door of the changing room. As I heard her fumbling with the skirt, I thought it was probably time I told her about the big news.

"Today she's gonna tell her dad about us... Brittany I mean."

A second later Quinn's face appeared from behind the door with an astonished expression. "WHAT?"

"Yeah... It was her idea... But we both know it's about time. I've given her the keys of the apartment, and if everything goes as planned I might ask her... you know, to move in. Like, not now, but when the time is right. So her dad obviously needs to know..."

In the half second of silence that followed my words I saw an unreadable expression appear on her face, and I was already prepared to hear about what a risk we were taking and how things with Brittany's father could go horribly wrong. However, I wasn't prepared when she flung the door open, skirt's zipper still half down, and enveloped me in a huge hug.

"Woah, calm down Fabray..." I said, returning the embrace for what I could.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." she said as she pulled back. "You're really doing this, aren't you?"

She didn't need to explain any further, I totally understood what she meant. I smiled and nodded. "Yeah... I guess I am."

The rest of the morning went by pretty quickly, and by the time we had finished our round of the shops, Quinn was carrying six different bags. We went back to her apartment to put them down, and then headed to a small bar across the street to grab some lunch. As much as I was enjoying my time with my best friend, I was growing more and more impatient to go home and see Brittany, especially since I hadn't heard anything from her yet.

"Crap... my phone's dead..." I said as I took it out of my purse. Damn smartphones and their nonexistent battery autonomy. "That's why I haven't gotten any text from Brittany yet."

"Do you need mine? I forgot it home, but I can go get it, it will take a second" Quinn offered.

"Nah, don't worry... Actually, I'm just gonna go home if you don't mind. I'm dying to know how things went with Mr. Pierce."

"Of course. Let's get out of here..."

We paid for our food and I quickly said goodbye to my friend after promising to let her know about the new developments with Brittany's father. I ran to my car and quickly got the engine running, impatient to see my girlfriend and hear what her dad had said about us.

Also, Brittany had been pretty clear about how she wanted to spend the weekend, and I couldn't wait to be in bed with my naked girlfriend, aka the most beautiful woman on the planet, celebrating the beginning of a new chapter of our relationships by going at it like rabbits.

I rolled my eyes and smirked at my own thoughts. _Such a romantic, huh?_

I found a parking spot right in front of my building and took it as a good luck sign. Before I knew it I was up the stairs, unlocking my apartment's door, and as soon as I stepped inside I noticed something that warmed my heart. Brittany's bag, the one she used whenever she went to the studio, was on the floor in the entryway.

A big grin appeared on my face. No matter what her father had said, she was there now, it was over, and all that was left to do was for me to take her in my arms and kiss her silly. The thought that she had used the keys, _her _keys, to get inside filled me with a sense of happiness I had rarely felt before. The bag meant she had also brought some of her clothes like I had told her, and I seriously thought I was gonna die for too much happiness all at once.

"Britt-Britt? I'm home!" I called excitedly as I took off my own shoes and coat. I headed towards the living room, still waiting for Brittany to answer. "Babe? Where are you?"

I stopped in my tracks when I saw one of her feet dangling from the side of the couch.

_She fell asleep. That's why she didn't answer._

I wondered how long ago she had gotten there. I thought she had probably dozed off as soon as she had arrived, as a release for all the built-up tension of the past few hours. I was already thinking about letting her sleep a little more while I took a shower and changed my clothes when I saw her foot twitch lightly, and soon after she coughed.

"Hey Britt," I said, getting closer to the couch, "I thought you were as..."

The rest of my sentence died on my lips as soon as I caught a glimpse of my girlfriend.

I gasped and shrieked at the same time as my brain processed what my eyes were seeing.

Brittany's face was a mask of blood, the red liquid flowing free from her eyebrows, her nose, her lips, running down her chin and cheeks and soaking the pillow she had managed to lay her head on. She was lying on her side in an awkward angle, looking like she had just thrown herself on the couch somehow and then never readjusted her position. Her whole body was trembling, and she was clutching her stomach tightly with her right arm.

It merely took me a second to get out of my trance and kneel down to her side hurriedly. She tried to raise her head and I immediately cupped her cheeks, careful not to touch any of her wounds.

"BRITTANY! Baby, what happened?" I asked her, fighting between the urge to take her in my arms and the fear of hurting her. I was so confused, so lost, and yet I knew I had to do something. I had to know what to do, I had to. But all I could think about was searching for an answer in Brittany's eyes.

"San...cough...I..." she tried to say with a thin voice, but her attempt to speak died in a fit of coughing, more blood leaking out of her mouth. A grimace of pain appeared on her face and she immediately brought her hand to her ribs.

"Shhh... it's okay... it's okay..." I told her, keeping her hair away from her face. I was unable to think, unable to react in any way and I just kept staring at Brittany's face as she struggled to speak again.

I already knew what she was about to tell me, but the realization really hit me only when I heard her feeble voice saying the words that I feared to hear.

"He... he did it... he hit me."

My Brittany, my wonderful, sweet Brittany, the most caring, beautiful, kind soul in the world, shuddering and throwing up blood because _her own father_ had hit her. But even before anger or sorrow could get to me, I managed to kick the confusion out of my head and react.

"We need to go to the hospital."

"No!" she instantly said as loud as she could. She tried to raise herself up and I immediately threw an arm around her and made her lean against me.

"We can't... no hospital..."

"But Brittany, you're bleeding too much and... I can't... you need a doctor!"

"They will... cough... ask questions... I can't... please..."

_She's trying to protect him._

As I did my best to take some of her weight on me and avoid causing her any pain, she kept wheezing and pleading not to bring her to the hospital, and the first thing I thought was that I needed to buy myself some more time to figure out what to do. I needed someone who knew how to handle this, who could figure out how much help did Brittany really need, but who wasn't a doctor.

"Ok, honey, it's ok... I'm gonna bring you to bed and then I'm gonna call Mercedes..."

She nodded and whimpered in slight relief, and I prayed with everything I had for Mercedes to be out of work and able to be there soon. Knowing Brittany was in no condition to walk, I managed to lift her up and carry her to my room, barely feeling the strain as I only focused on keeping her from feeling more pain.

I carefully lowered her down onto my bed and adjusted the pillows behind her head and back. I kissed her forehead in reassurance and ran back into the living room, grabbing my phone with trembling hands and calling Mercedes. After a couple of rings she picked up.

"Santana? What's up?"

"Are you free now?"

"Yes... what's wrong?" she asked, probably hearing the panic in my voice.

"I need you to come to my place as quickly as possible. Brittany... she's hurt. She's bleeding and she doesn't want to go to the hospital, you're the only person I could think about..."

"Yes, yes, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Oh thank God! What should I do in the meanwhile?" I asked, feeling slighlty relieved.

"Make sure she doesn't move. You can clean her wounds, but if they're too deep don't touch them until I get there."

"Okay, okay. Just... Hurry up, please."

* * *

I watched Brittany slowly fall asleep, her weak body surrendering to the effect of the painkillers Mercedes had given her. Her face was blood-free now, but swollen and full of cuts. With my friend's help I had managed to take off her blood stained clothes and slip her into one of my sweatshirts, the biggest and warmest I could find.

I kissed her on top of her head and followed Mercedes out of the bedroom. We went to the kitchen and I poured ourselves two glasses of water before sitting down with her. "Is she gonna be okay?" I finally asked with a lump in my throat, the one that hadn't left me since the very first moment I had seen my girlfriend covered in blood.

"I think so" Mercedes anwsered. "None of the cuts was too deep, she should be fine just with the external stitches I applied. She's got two broken ribs, but I could feel they're both still in place so I'm pretty sure they didn't do any internal damage." She took a sip of water and continued. "What worries me is the blood she kept sputtering out... It must certainly mean there's an internal bleeding, probably caused by some hits in the stomach area, and there is no way we can know the extent of it. Since she stopped after a while, there are good chances it was just a minor bleeding that is already healing, but it's important you keep monitoring her temperature in the next couple of days. She's slightly feverish now, but it's normal... if it gets any higher tho, you have to run to the hospital."

I nodded and took a big gulp from my glass. Mercedes studied me for a second and then spoke again.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened now? Because I see people in Brittany's condition every day... and the fact that you didn't bring her to the hospital..."

"Her father did that."

I saw Mercedes covering her mouth with her hand, eyes widened. As I said those words out loud, I finally felt the anger bubble up inside of me.

"Santana, I..."

"She told him about us, and that bastard hit her. I should have know better, I shouldn't have let it happen... FUCK!"

I slammed the glass against the table, and Mercedes immediately got up from her chair and came to stand at my side, putting an arm around my shoulders. "It's not your fault..."

"Yes it is! How could I be so stupid to believe that... that..."

I wasn't able to finish my sentence as I started crying, angry, desperate tears falling free from my eyes. Mercedes pulled me closer to her and enveloped me in a hug, her hand rubbing soothing circles over my back. "She's gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine..." she murmured over and over again.

After what felt like ages, I pulled back and wiped away the few tears that still lingered on my cheeks. "I'm sorry, I... I need to keep it together. Brittany needs me now. I have to call Mike, she was supposed to get back to work on Monday... and I have to tell Kurt, and Quinn too..."

"Santana, calm down, please." Mercedes said, looking at me straight in the eyes. "You're right, she needs you. But the best thing you can do for her is to get back in that room and be there when she wakes up. I'll take care of the rest in the meanwhile... Okay?"

Her words managed to calm me down. "Yeah... okay... Thank you, Mercedes. For everything. "

She just smiled reassuringly and headed back to the living room, probably to make all the calls. I sighed and got up from my chair, the need to be close to Brittany taking over any other thought or feeling. I reached my bedroom door and opened it as quietly as I could, a sense of relief washing over me as soon as I saw Brittany's sleeping form under the covers, breathing slowly. I inched closer and sat down on the edge of the bed, watching her eyelids flutter in her sleep. Probably sensing my presence , she slowly opened her eyes, and despite all the heartache brought by seeing her in those conditions, I felt a slight smile appear on my lips.

"Hey..." I murmured, brushing my thumb against her cheek.

"Hi..." her voice was still feeble and scratchy, and not only because of the lingering sleepiness.

"How are you feeling?"

"Everything hurts... and my head feels so heavy..."

"Sleep, Britt. I'm right here" I said reassuringly, but she shook her head.

"No... I need to tell you what happened..."

She tried to raise herself up and immediately winced in pain, her broken ribs preventing her from doing any movement. I gently helped her back down against the pillows. "Just rest, there's no rush..."

She covered my hand that was resting on her cheek with hers. "I want to...I need it out. Please?" She then asked me with pleading eyes, and all I could do was nod.

She let out a breath, and began to speak. "We had just finished lunch and I told... dad... that I had something to tell him. He immediately understood, you know, that it was about the person I was dating, and he nearly seemed excited. He saw I was nervous and he kept saying that as long as I was happy nothing else mattered..."

She stopped momentarily to clear her throat. Her eyes were getting glossy, but she was still calm. I took hold of both of her hands and just let her take her time.

"So I gathered up some courage and told him. That I was dating you and that I was very happy... But I immediately saw he wasn't fine, San. He started saying it was wrong, and not healthy, and that it was no way to live. We both started yelling, and at some point he just told me he needed time to think, so I let him and went to my room. I thought that maybe he just needed calm down and then he would see..."

Brittany's voice broke, and she just couldn't fight the tears anymore. I did my best not to cry myself, instead I just delicately kissed her hands and then started brushing away all the tears rolling down her cheeks until she was calm enough to speak again.

"But after a while he came to me saying he was gonna look for you and tell you to stay away from me. He said it was all your fault, that you had... you had gotten into my head because I'm too weak. He wasn't even mad at me anymore... "

"Then why.. how...?" I tried asked, my eyes running over Brittany's battered face.

She tightened the hold of my hands. "Because I stood up for myself. For us. I couldn't let him get into my head and convince me that you are the cause of my problems. Not again."

She did another attempt at raising herself, and before I could stop her she was sitting up and using my shoulders to hold herself up. "I told him that you mean the world to me. That you've done more for me in a few months than what he has done in years. That mom... she would have understood. And she would have loved you, and loved how happy you make me. I told him that even if he's my family, even if I love him, and even though I'd hate having to choose... I'd choose you over him any day."

"Oh, honey..." I began to say, but Brittany didn't let me, now too eager to finish the horrible story.

"He got crazy, San, totally crazy. And he started hitting me, over and over again... Slaps, kicks, I fell to the ground... I thought I was gonna die... But then he stopped. He said I had five minutes to take my stuff and get lost forever. I couldn't even think straight, I saw my bag and I just took it... I tried to call you, then Quinn, but you were off service and she wouldn't pick up... I started looking through my bag and thank God I had already put your keys there... I didn't want poeple to see me and call an ambulance, so it took me so long to get here... I was on my knees by the time I got to your door... I got inside, I tried to undress and clean up, but I ended up just laying down and ...praying that you'd be here soon."

With that she hid her face in the crook of my neck and started crying again, this time unable to calm down. I held her close, feeling tears rolling down my own cheeks, but trying to stay as strong as I could. I let her cry out all of her pain against my chest, and kept whispering words of comfort in her hear over and over again.

"Shh... it's all gone, baby... all gone... you're here now, you're safe. It's gonna be fine... You've been so brave... I love you, I love you so much... "

Eventually her sobbing died down, but neither of us moved from our position. I kept holding her for a while, always careful of her wounds and broken ribs, until she finally raised her head again. Her left eye had swelled to the point that she couldn't even keep it open, the result of a particularly hard hit, but that didn't prevent me from seeing all the sorrow and pain in her glance. I gently helped her back against the pillows, then took hold of her hands again. "You should really get more rest now, Britt."

"But I need to talk to Mike, I don't think I can go..."

"Of course not. Mercedes is taking care of it right now, and I'll handle everything else. You just need to sleep, ok?"

She was clearly struggling to stay conscious, her weak body asking for more rest, but I could see she was doing her best to fight this need. She looked down at our hands, then back to my eyes.

"Lord Tubbington is still there."

Maybe it was the fact that I was willing to do anything to see Brittany feel even slightly better, or maybe I just really didn't like the idea of Tubbs being stuck in that house (yes, I had started to like him with time...), but it took me merely a second to give Brittany the most stupid answer in the world.

"I'll bring him here, I promise."

I had no freaking idea of how I was gonna do that, but I decided it didn't really matter the moment I saw Brittany's face slightly light up. "Really? Can you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll find a way. Don't worry about anything ok? I'm here, I'll take care of everything."

A weak smile grazed her lips, and the mere sight brought me to lean forward and press the lightest kiss on them. Her eyes already closed, Brittany managed to ask me one more thing. "Can you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Of course, honey, of course."

* * *

I quietly closed the door of my room behind me and headed back to the living room. Brittany had already been asleep for a while, but I had stayed with her a bit longer, feeling reassured by the sight of her peaceful slumber, her breath even and no creases on her forehead. When I entered the other room Mercedes sent me a quick glance from her spot near the tv, still talking on the phone.

"Yeah, yeah... don't worry, she needs to rest a couple of days anyway. Yes, I'll tell her, Mike. Santana will let you know when she feels better... yeah, ok, bye. "

She put her phone down and we both sat on the couch. "Mike is still out of town with Tina. He said not to worry about a thing and that he'll call you as soon as they get back."

I sighed. "Ok, thank you. Have you told Quinn and Kurt too?"

"Yeah, and Puck knows too obviously... They all wanted to come here right away but I told them to wait until tomorrow... Brittany really needs rest. There's not much they could do."

An idea suddenly flashed through my head.

_Yes, there is._

"Call Kurt and tell him to come here as soon as he can. I'll call Puck" I told Mercedes as I abruptly stood up.

"Wait, what..."

"Just call him, please!"

She sent me a weird glance before grabbing her phone again. I quickly reached for mine and looked for Puck's number; he answered after a single ring.

"Santana! I'm here with Quinn, Cedes just told us..."

"I need you here now, Puck. And tell Quinn to bring all the bags you have."

"Sure, sure, anything..." he answered, but I could tell he was confused. What do you want me to do?"

I let out a loud breath. I already knew it was a stupid idea, but what other chance did I have?

"I need you to help me break into Brittany's house."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey guys! I'm still alive! I'm so sorry for this huge delay, but I've gone through a lot of changes in my life during this last month, and I felt like my mind was way too busy to be able to think about writing, so I just put the story aside for a few weeks. I'm in a much better place now, and I hope you're still out there waiting to give to our story a well deserved ending! We probably have only a few chapters left, but fear not, I have so many ideas in my head right now and I can't wait to share them all with you! **

**As always, hope you enjoy :-)**

"I still think this is a bad idea."

"Shut up, Kurt. I'm trying to think..."

We had been standing a few feet away from Brittany's buliding for a while, and I was trying to figure out a way to get inside. My first plan had been to use the fire escape and get in by breaking the glass of her bedroom's window, but I had soon realized the street was way too crowded for getting away with that unnoticed.

"Do you realize there are good chances we might get caught? We could get arrested! Santana, please, listen to me..."

"No you listen to me!" I snapped back, forcefully pushing my index finger against Kurt's chest. "My girlfriend just got beaten up by _her own fucking father_, and right now I would do anything, anything, to take away even an inch of her pain. I love her, and that's my job. So if she's worried about her cat, I'm gonna do my job, get in that fucking house and GET THAT FUCKING CAT. With or without you. Do you understand?"

He was quick to nod. "Yes, yes, I'll help."

"We're wasting time! Let's just get in the building and deal with it!" Puck said. Since the moment he had stepped into my apartment, he had insisted on finding Brittany's father and beating the crap out of him. For as much as I liked that idea, I knew it was the worst possible thing we could do, so I had managed to convince him to help me with my plan instead.

We eventually walked to the front door and rang the intercom a couple of times. No answer.

"He's not here" Puck immediately said.

"Maybe he's just not answering... How can we be sure?" Kurt asked, worried.

"We can't. But we have to go up there anyway" I quickly cut him off. "Come on, we should hurry. If he's really gone, we don't know when he'll be back."

Luckily the main door of the building was left ajar, so we overcame the first obstacle pretty quickly. We got to the third floor and stopped only when we found ourselves staring at a closed door.

"Now what?" Puck asked.

"Crap. I don't know..." I answered honestly.

"We should try and take the door down with some shoves of the shoulder... It seems pretty old, it will break eventually" Puck suggested.

"Oh yes, and by the time it's down the neighbors will call the police. Use that brain sometimes, Noah..." Kurt said in an annoyed tone.

"What are you doing here, darling?"

We all turned our heads to see an old, tiny lady appearing from the door on our right. I immediately recognized her as Mrs. Owens, a 75-year-old widow who lived there with her three cats. I had gotten to know her one time I had come to pick Brittany up for a date; the woman had just come back from the grocery store and we had helped her bringing her bags upstairs. A few days later she had invited us to drink some tea and eat her delicious homemade biscuits as a way to thank us. She pretty much lived with her head in the clouds all the time, but she was really sweet.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Owens. I... uhm... we didn't mean to bother you."

"Oh, don't worry, sweetheart, I just heard some noise and thought somebody was trying to break into Mr. Pierce's house. But it's only you."

She smiled warmly, and didn't seem to notice my very much audible gulp.

"Yeah... listen... is he away?"

"Yes, you missed him by not more than ten minutes. Did you need him?"

"No! I mean no... I just..." I stuttered as my mind feverishly worked to make up an explanation. "You see Brittany is ill, very ill, and she's staying with me for a couple of days. You know, so I can look after her... We just came here to grab some of her stuff, but... I forgot to ask her for the keys, and now we don't know how to get inside."

_Woah, Lopez, you're talented with this shit._

"Oh, poor Brittany... a lovely, lovely girl... and you're such a caring girlfriend."

That got me stunned for a second, because how the hell had she figured out I was Brittany's girlfriend if we had never told her so? And why did a lady in her seventies seemed so cool about it anyway? But I pretty much forgot about it when I heard her next words.

"I have the keys, darling."

"WHAT?" all three of us said in unison.

"You see, a few years ago my sister used to live there. She had given me an emergency key and when she moved to Florida with that doctor... such a handsome man, lucky her... she forgot to take them back. Let me see..."

She momentarily stepped back inside and we heard some rustling and clinking coming from inside. I barely had time to exchange a bewildered look with Puck before she was back with a rusty old key. "Here, sweetheart, this should be the right one."

I took the key from her and immediately thought that there was no way it could still work. It was in such bad conditions that it was probably gonna break in two as soon as I tried to turn it, and there were good chances it wouldn't even fit for the door anymore, but it was also the only possible way to get us inside the apartment. When I put it into the lock, it squeaked and creaked, but to my complete astonishment it worked.

"Holy shit..." Puck muttered as he watched the scene.

"Thank you... Thank you so much Mrs. Owens!" I quickly said once I had gotten out of my stupor, and I gave her the key back, eager to get inside and get the job done.

"Oh, of course, of course... Would you like some apple pie? I made it this morning..."

"We're in a bit of rush, but next time, okay? Thank you again!"

"No problem, have a nice day kids!"

I rushed inside with my friends and closed the door behind us. "I can't believe it worked..."

"Now what?" Kurt asked, looking around.

"Go to Brittany's room and put everything you find in these bags" I told them, now focused on my task. "Clothes, stuffed animals, pictures, everything. I'll do the same in the living room and look for her cat."

After gathering the few things that I recognized as Brittany's I basically looked everywhere in the house before finding Lord Tubbington hiding under an armchair in the living room; when I tried to get him, he hissed at me, probably scared by the mess we were making.

"Tubbs... come on, it's me... Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Come here?"

He meowed at me and carefully stepped forward. I scratched him behind his ears a couple of times and he finally purred happily at me, letting me pick him up. In that moment Kurt and Puck reemerged from Brittany's room with all the bags filled.

"We literally took everything but the furniture. I also found her keys... Should we take them?" Kurt asked.

"Yes, if we keep them he has no proof we broke into the house. It could have just been Brittany coming to take her stuff. But we'll throw them away eventually..." I answered immediately. "There's no way she's stepping back into this place." I eyed the floor, where I could still see some of Brittany's dried blood that hadn't been cleaned up yet, and I felt my stomach shrivel up at the sight.

"You know what? I think we should leave that asshole a gift..." Puck said mischievously. I pondered the possibility for a second. My impulsive side would have loved nothing more than to go along with Puck's idea, make some mess just to show Mr. Pierce that he wasn't gonna get away with what he had done. But it was surprisingly easy to get over my rage and think about my priorities at the moment. I had to get home and take care of Brittany, do everything I could to just put this whole story behind us, and provoking Mr. Pierce definitely wasn't gonna help with that.

"No, let's just get out of here Puck. That dickhead can go to hell, I wanna get back to Brittany."

Puck nodded, understanding, and so did Kurt, who looked relieved at my answer. We managed to pick up all the bags, plus Lord Tubbington tucked under my arm, and without a second thought we were out of the apartment.

* * *

"Britt!" Kurt screamed as soon as we got back to my place and entered my bedroom. Brittany had been asleep when he had first arrived, so he hadn't had a chance to talk to her, but now she was awake, Quinn and Mercedes sitting by her side on the bed. Kurt ran to her and carefully hugged her, a tear already falling down his cheek.

"Hi Kurt..." she said, returning the hug as she could. "Hey Puck..."

"Hey, little one..." he said as he stepped forward hugged her too. "You got us all scared..."

Some color had finally returned on Brittany's battered face, and she even offered some brief smiles to my friends. Then her eyes landed on me, and when she saw I was carrying her cat, her smile got bigger.

"You really went to get him?" She asked me.

"Of course, I promised. We got all of your stuff too... Your clothes, your computer, everything" I said walking closer until I could carefully lower Tubbs onto her lap. He purred and licked her fingers as she started petting him affectionately.

"But how?" she asked me as I sat down beside her.

"Let's just say we really owe Mrs. Owens a huge favor..."

She didn't inquire further and just kept playing with Lord Tubbington. Only in that moment I noticed a wheelchair beside the bed. "Where does that come from?" I asked.

"It's Noah's old wheelchair from when he broke his leg." Quinn explained. "I thought it could be useful for you two and I went back home to get it."

"It definitely will, thank you so much Quinn. Thanks to all of you guys, your help was really needed."

They all nodded and smiled briefly. "Well, I think we should go now. You need to rest some more Britt. But please call us if you need anything, ok?" Kurt said, still visibly shaken by the sight of her best friend in such a horrible state.

"Of course. Thank you."

All my friends hugged Brittany goodbye and I escorted them to the door. Quinn stopped at the doorstep and offered me a hug too. "Don't worry" she said, "she'll be fine. She has you."

I sighed and nodded, before waving them all goodbye one last time and closing the door. I then went back to my room and went to sit beside Brittany again. "Feeling better?" I asked, seeing she was wearing a slightly more peaceful expression.

"Yeah... Kinda. And my temperature has gone down..."

"I'm glad" I said, slightly relieved. "What about having soup for dinner?" I asked, ready to get up again. She put a hand on my thigh and stopped my motions.

"Soup is fine. But stay with me for a while first?"

I inched closer and carefully wrapped my arms around her. "Of course..." I mumbled against her temple, before kissing her there. She relaxed further into me and I knew she was comforted as much as I was by our closeness. Feeling the warmth of her skin and the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed reminded me one more time that she was safe now, and that thought helped shutting down the storm that was still in my head.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but eventually I got up when it was almost completely dark outside. I made the soup and helped her eat it, despite her protests; by the time I had loaded the dishwasher she was on the verge of falling asleep again.

Mercedes had strictly ordered Brittany to limit her movements to the very minimum for at least a few days, but I could already tell Brittany didn't like the idea of needing to be helped by the way she looked at me when I fixed the pillows behind her head and pulled up the covers for her. I was still way too worried to care.

"Okay, you have the water here, and some more painkillers, in case you needed them... Are the pillows ok? I can bring you some more... Or maybe you want another cover? Anyway if you need anything just call me, especially if you have to go to the bathroom because you really shouldn't stand up by yourself... I'll keep the door open so I can hear you..."

"Wait, Santana, what door?" Brittany interrupted me.

"I'm gonna sleep in Quinn's old room... You know I usually move around a lot when I sleep, I don't wanna hurt you or anything, and you need to rest as much as you can..."

"No, listen... I just need you to stay here. I don't wanna be alone..." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. "Don't leave me, please?"

The moment I heard her fragile voice it dawned on me that I was being an idiot. Brittany didn't want another pillow, or more soup, or a bed for herself. She just wanted to feel safe, and making her feel safe was by far my biggest duty.

"Of course, I won't. I'm not leaving."

That night I barely slept. Because holding her required me to stay in an awkward position, since she could only lay on her back. Because I was too worried I was gonna hurt her with an unwanted movement. Because there was no way my brain would stop thinking over and over again about the events of the day and wondering what was gonna happen now, if things were gonna change and how. But when morning finally came and I felt Brittany lightly stir against me, mumbling incoherent words in her half-asleep state before shuffling closer and resting her forehead in the crook of my neck, I simply knew that being able to bring her comfort was totally worth a sleepless night.

* * *

"Don't get mad at me now, I just think we should talk about it!"

"Santana, I'm not mad, but I'm not changing my mind."

"But why?"

"Because he's my father!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling an headache coming. "Brittany.. He has to face the consequences of his actions. And if you don't press charges he never will! And what if he comes back? We have nothing to stop him!"

"I just want this whole thing to be over! He won't come back... I know him, trust me!"

"Oh yeah, cause last time I did it was a huge success, huh?"

_Directly from "How to be a dickhead at the worst times". Congrats, Lopez. _

"I really need this right now, thank you so much Santana."

"Britt, crap, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." I immediately started, seeing the hurt in her expression, but she cut me off before I could finish my lame apology.

"Yeah, you did."

At that point, I didn't know what to say. I was sorry, and frustrated, and worried, and I could only imagine how harder Brittany had it. I wanted to help her, but I simply didn't know how, and my bitchiness was only the result of my frustration. After a minute of silence that felt like ages, during which Brittany had kept her gaze away from me, she spoke again.

"Do you think I don't want him to pay for what he did? Because I do. Every time I have to ask you for help because I can't get up . Every time I breathe in too much and I feel like somebody is stabbing me. Every time I see you all guys worrying about me and I can't even reassure you because I am a hundred times more worried, and scared, and lost than you are. But he's my _father_."

Her voice trembled slightly, and she sniffled a couple of times, holding back her tears for what felt like the millionth time in the last few days.

"That makes it all worse, I know. But I can't find it in my heart to just erase what he has done for me in all these years, and how good to me he was before everything started to fall apart. I don't wanna see him ever again, but I won't press charges against him. That's the last thing I'll ever do for him."

To say that a part of me wasn't actually happy to think about just putting the whole thing behind us would have been a lie. I did understand what Brittany meant, and even if I wasn't agreeing with her I was beginning to realize that I had to step aside and just be supportive of what she decided. My next words weren't easy to say though.

"Okay, I understand" I said, letting out a loud breath. "I won't push anymore. I just wanna help you, in any way I can. The decision is up to you."

"Thank you..." she said, nodding lightly and with a hint of relief in her voice.

"And I didn't mean to be a bitch like that. I'm really sorry."

Brittany looked down briefly, then back up to me. "I know..." she said in a soft voice. She raised her hand to caress my cheek lightly, and offered me a brief, unsure smile. It didn't quite reach her eyes, but I instantly knew I was gonna hold onto that tiny sign of hope with everything I had.

* * *

It took Brittany around a month to completely recover from all of her injuries, since thankfully no complications showed up along the way. For a while she had insisted on getting back on her feet as soon as possible and get back to work, even if Mike had more than once told her that there was no rush; however, as time went by and she slowly recovered, she progressively seemed to lose interest in getting back into the studio and kept postponing her comeback. Useless to say, that really worried me.

It wasn't just about this particular reluctance, though. I could see right under my eyes that her mental recovery was nowhere near her physical one. She was still the same kind, gentle Brittany, but a veil of sadness coated her every action. She barely spoke, and almost never left the house even after her injuries had stopped causing her pain. I kept trying to make her feel better with small gestures, like cooking this food she liked so much, or framing that picture of her and her mom and putting it on the bedside table; she always tried her best to show me her appreciation, but her smiles never really lit up her face, her "thank you" 's always came with a hint of hopelessness that I was failing to shake away from her, no matter how hard I tried. An invisible wall was between us, preventing us from sharing the special closeness that had always been part of our relationship. She'd hold me tight at night, only to slip away from me in the morning, every day a bit further.

I was carrying this awareness with me like a boulder that Friday, when I decided to try a different approach and hope for the best.

"Britt? Are you done showering?" I shouted from the kitchen, as I was cleaning up the remnants of our breakfast.

"Yes, you can go now..." Brittany answered, stepping out of the bathroom and heading towards the bedroom to get dressed. I put the last dish back inside the cupboard and went after her, entering the bedroom just as she was slipping her bra on.

"Listen, why don't you grab a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt so we can go out? I wanted to take you somewhere..." I told her, trying to sound as casual as possible. She didn't buy it though.

"Where?" She asked in a not-so-encouraging tone.

There was no point in lying, so I just said the truth. "To the studio. The kids are taking a lesson this morning."

She was quick to answer. "I already told you, I don't wanna go there. I'm not ready to get back to teaching yet."

"You won't be teaching today, we're just gonna go see the kids. I bet they will be happy, and maybe it will help you getting used to the idea of going back to work?"

I could see that she didn't like my idea at all, but she also didn't want to shoot down my attempt so quickly.

"Fine... But I haven't seen them in ages, they probably won't even remember who I am..."

As we drove in silence towards Mike's studio I allowed myself to hang onto this tiny ray of hope that my idea could actually work, even if Brittany definitely didn't seem thrilled by it. I pulled into a parking spot and followed Brittany towards the building's door. As soon as we got inside, though, she slowed down her pace until she was walking a step behind me, almost intimidated by an environment that had been nothing but a place of happiness and accomplishment to her.

In no time we were standing on the entrance of a room where a bunch of kids was jumping around and laughing, as apparently they were taking a break from their "lesson". Before either of us could say a word, we heard a tiny scream of joy.

"Brittany!"

A blonde boy, not older than six, ran towards us and threw himself at Brittany, hugging her left leg. She was barely able to make a couple of steps inside of the room before all the other kids gathered around her and almost tackled her to the ground, each one of them trying to get her attention.

"Look what I learnt to do!"

"My hair is longer than yours now, see?"

"Brittany, Brittany, can you please come back?"

She did her best to handle all those tiny balls of energy at once, and when I managed to catch a glimpse of her expression I noticed her face had lit up and was radiating a happiness I hadn't seen on her features in a very long time. My plan had worked.

She kept hugging and talking to all of them for a few minutes, and in the meanwhile I exchanged a few words with Marley, the girl who was currently covering for Brittany. She told me she worked in another studio nearby and had offered to do a few hours there to help Mike for the time Brittany was recovering. When I turned my attention back to my girlfriend, I saw the same blonde boy who had first noticed her pointing his finger towards me.

"Brittany, who's that?" he asked curiously. I leaned against the doorframe and watched the interaction with a small, amused smile.

"That's my girlfriend, Colin."

"Oh." The kid seemed to think about her answer for a second, then smiled widely. "I have a girlfriend too!"

"Oh, is that so?" Brittany asked him.

"Yes!" he screamed, all excited. "Her name is Hannah, and she's the prettiest. But your girlfriend is really pretty too! We are both lucky!"

Brittany chuckled lightly and ruffled his hair. She answered him while looking at me, her eyes glossy and full of emotion.

"You're right... We are really, really lucky."


	28. Chapter 28

**...what's the best way to ask for forgiveness when you've neglected your story for almost two months? With smut, fluff and (attempted) humor, of course!**

The worst sound on the planet, aka my alarm clock, woke me up that Saturday morning when it was still dark outside.

The joys of morning shifts.

I shut the alarm down as quickly as I could, hoping Brittany wouldn't wake up too, but thankfully she had become pretty good at ignoring it so she didn't even move. Only when I was finally on my feet she rolled over and basically claimed the whole bed for herself, still sound asleep. I smiled to myself, silently grabbed my clothes and walked out of the bedroom.

Feeling way too sleepy to be able to make breakfast, I decided to just grab some coffee and maybe a donut at Schuester's. I washed my face, got dressed and I was ready to head to work when I remembered there was something I still needed to do. Climbing onto a chair, I opened a cupboard and reached behind the pile of sugar packages, where I had hidden a small box of chocolates only the previous day. I placed it onto the kitchen counter where I knew Brittany would see it and quickly scribbled a note to put beside it.

_Happy Valentine's Day Britt-Britt! I love you XX_

I had been thinking about the right Valentine's Day present for a while, and in the end I had decided to stick to something simple. After her encounter with the kids and the consequent decision of going back to work, Brittany had been slowly getting back to her normal life, but the situation was still fragile and I was still being careful about not putting her under any kind of pressure.

So yeah, no over-the-top romantic gestures allowed.

I arrived at the bar in a decent mood, that however was quickly destroyed when Will told me he really needed me to stay in the afternoon too since Sam had taken the day off and Rachel had called in sick.

"Oh, come on! Why can't Tina stay instead?" I complained.

"Because I'm working tomorrow morning too and you're not" she quickly said. "Besides I have plans with Mike this afternoon, he's gonna kill me if I cancel!"

"Come on, Santana, I promise I will pay you well..." Will almost begged.

"Ugh... fine..." I ended up saying, much to their mutual relief. "This is Berry's fault. I bet that dwarf is not even sick, she's just choking on ice cream and crying over being single on Valentine's Day YET AGAIN."

"Probably..." Tina agreed, chuckling. "By the way, remember I owe you one!"

"Only one? I don't think so..." I joked, shaking my head as I grabbed my phone to warn Brittany that I wasn't gonna be home until dinner time. I sent her a text, and didn't wait for her reply since I knew she was probably still asleep.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, especially since I was kept busy nearly all the time. Since it was Valentine's day, Will had come up with a few special offers for couples, which resulted in the bar being completely packed all throughout the day. The moment I glanced at the clock and saw my extra shift was finally over, I quickly took my apron off and headed straight to the door, barely acknowledging Will shouting me another "thank you" as I walked out of the bar.

Stepping inside of my apartment was a huge relief. I instantly felt the cold slip away from my bones, and I let out a relieved sigh as I took off my coat and shoes. However, it took me a few seconds to realize there was a delicious smell of food coming from the kitchen.

"Britt? You made dinner? We could have..."

I stopped mid-sentence the moment I saw something I didn't expect at all. The kitchen table was set for two, a small bunch of flowers and a bottle of red wine in the middle of it. The main light of the room was off, but a couple of smaller lamps had been strategically placed so that their suffused lighting could create a warm, relaxing atmosphere.

And Brittany, oh, Brittany.

She was standing right beside the table in a beautiful light-blue dress, a soft layer of make-up highlighting her delicate features, her blonde hair up in a neat bun, leaving the pale skin of her shoulders partially exposed. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.

"Happy Valentine's day, Santana" she said shyly, and the moment I saw her bright, wonderful smile back on her face after so long, my heart just melted.

Momentarily speechless, I could only mirror her smile as she stepped forward and gently pulled me towards her by the waist, then pressed her lips to mine in what was one of the most meaningful kisses we had ever shared. Because as we kissed, I could feel the invisible wall that had been standing between us finally crumbling down completely. The moment we parted our lips and glanced into each other's eyes, I knew I had my wonderful, sweet Brittany back.

"Hey..." I murmured, still inches away from her face.

"Hi..." she whispered back.

"You know you just made my gift look absolutely pathetic, right?"

Brittany threw her head back and giggled. "Don't be silly, you were super sweet as usual... But I really wanted to do something special, you know..."

"Yeah?" I asked, curious, the dorkiest of smiles still on my face.

She let out a quiet breath and slightly tightened her hold on my waist. "This is my way to say thank you for how patient you've been with me for all this time."

"Oh, Brittany, you don't have to..."

"Yes, I do" she interrupted me. "I know how hard it has been for you to deal with me, and I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I've been so distant, and I've kept pushing you away while you've been nothing but understanding and supportive."

"But you don't have to apologize for any of that, Britt..." I was quick to say. "I just wanted to see you back on your feet..."

"Well, I am now. I'm done being down and hiding in a corner" she told me firmly."Tonight is about us, okay? Cause we've been able to get through everything without losing each other and... I want nothing more than to get back to us being _us._ If... you think we can...?"

God, how long I had waited for this moment to come. And how many times I had been afraid we'd never make it out of the tunnel. But now Brittany was standing right in front of me, saying words I had been dying to hear and telling me she was ready to go back to fully enjoy our life together. So instead of answering, I just pulled her to me and kissed her again, almost able to feel the relief wash through her as I did.

"You could have at least told me to wear something nice, you know?" I joked as we let go of each other and approached the table. "I feel totally underdressed right now..." I added as I sat down.

"Shut up... You're the prettiest, as usual" she said sweetly as she walked past me.

Useless to say, the dinner was freaking awesome. I was almost nose deep in my eggplant parmesan when I noticed Brittany staring at me, and I immediately tried to regain composure.

"Uhm... sorry... but this is so good... and I skipped lunch today..."

Brittany smiled in response. "Nah, it's cool, I'm glad you like it. But I was thinking about something... something else that I wanted to discuss."

I quickly wiped the corners of my mouth with the napkin and brought my attention completely to her. "Oh, sure...?"

Brittany exhaled deeply. "I think it's time for me to move out and get my own place."

Thank God in that moment I had no food in my mouth, or I would have definitely choked on it. However, that didn't stop me from switching right into panic mode.

_What does that even mean?! _

_Oh, crap, she's doing it. She's about to tell me she needs 'a break'._

_My mom is gonna kill me._

_WHO CARES ABOUT MY MOM? IF SHE BREAKS UP WITH ME I'M DEAD ANYWAY._

"Santana? Say something please?" Brittany said with a concerned look, bringing me back to reality.

"I don't... I don't understand... Did I do something wrong?" I managed to sputter. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work it out, you don't have to..."

"Oh, wait, no no no no... You got it wrong!" she quickly interrupted me, then reached over the table to grab both of my hands. "What I meant is that... I think getting my own apartment would be the best way to keep our relationship on the right track."

"Honestly, Britt, I still don't get it. Don't you like living here?" I asked, still confused and not reassured at all by her words.

"Of course I do... but..." she started, apparently struggling to find the right words. "Listen, the fact is...I don't want you to think that I am here because I have nowhere else to go."

I started to see where she was headed, but before I could say a word she continued with her speech. "This happened in the wrong way... me moving here. And I don't want it to become an issue, or to cause tension between us. Because, you know, I love you so very much, and right now I only have you, but it's not _because _of that that I love you... As in, you might think that I'm staying with you because I have nobody else... Which is totally not the reason! Or, like, if one day you don't want me anymore, but maybe you feel like you _have to_ stay with me anyway because you feel bad for me or something... not that I am assuming you would, but... maybe if I had my own place..."

"Brittany" I stopped her, not needing to hear anything else, "move in with me?"

That left her speechless for a couple of seconds, before she sighed. "Santana..."

"You're right, okay, it just kinda happened, and for all the wrong reasons... but the fact that we made it through those shitty times is just the proof that we work great together! Look..." I said, tightening my hold on her hands, "do you really think the idea of asking you to move in had never crossed my mind before? I didn't ask because I wanted to wait for the right moment, without rushing things. But Brittany, if I had known before how amazing it would feel, I would have asked you straight away. I _love_ having you around. Seeing your toothbrush next to mine, having the scent of your shampoo all over my pillow... hell, I even like talking with Tubbs when you're not here. You're not a burden in my life, you're a gift."

I was so into the moment that I couldn't stop, even if I could see some tears gathering up in Brittany's eyes. "And I could never think you're taking advantage of me. You always buy groceries because you know I hate it and never complain about it. You're super patient with me every time I'm moody or grumpy or tired. You're the only person in the world who can actually stand me for more than a couple of hours without wanting to slap me. And that all might sound like silly stuff, but it makes me feel like the most loved person on the planet. I want you to keep living with me, but since it all happened in the wrong way, I wanna go back to the beginning and do it all properly. So, Brittany, will you move in with me?"

Seeing Brittany's smile lift up her tear-stained cheekbones as she nodded, unable to speak, was all I needed to let out a breath of relief and allow myself to fully smile back. In the blink of an eye she got up from her chair and threw herself on my lap, barely giving me the time to adjust as she threw her arms around me and kissed me deeply. When we parted, she rested her forehead against mine and stared right into my eyes. "I'm so lucky to have you..." she murmured sweetly.

"We're lucky to have each other" I said back, before reconnecting our lips.

We kissed for a while, slow and gentle, small giggles of pure happiness escaping our lips from time to time. At some point, Brittany pulled back a bit more, biting her lip.

"What's that look?" I asked her playfully.

"Well... I was wondering... if you're done eating, we could move to the living room? I have something else I wanted to show you..."

"Lead the way...?" I answered, curious. She sent me one more shy smile before standing up and pulling me with her by the hand towards the couch. Once we had reached it, she gently pushed me down on it and took a step back. I stared in awe as Brittany reached for the zip of her dress and pulled it down with an excruciatingly painful slowness. She then pushed the dress down her shoulders and let it fall to the ground, only to reveal a sight that almost had my mouth watering and my jaw drop.

A red lacy bra and a matching thong stood out against the creamy color of her skin, highlighting her soft curves as well as her toned muscles in all the right places. As I was still having trouble taking in her whole appearance without drooling, she let her hair fall down freely on her shoulders, her golden locks framing her delicate face. She then stepped forward in a gracefully bashful way that only made her look even more desirable to my eyes; once she was right in front of me, she bent down and placed a feather light kiss on my lips before gently reaching for the hem of my sweatshirt. I raised my arms, my eyes still glued to her, and let her take it off of me along with my t-shirt, leaving me in my bra and jeans. She then straddled me and we started kissing, hungrily yet slowly, savoring our newfound connection instead of rushing through it in the passion of the moment.

"Babe..." I managed to say as we momentarily parted our lips to breathe, "God... you're amazing..."

"I still owe you a special weekend after all... And I missed you..." she murmured into my mouth, and I knew way too well what she meant.

_I missed your lips. Your tongue. Your skin against mine. Your grip, your heat, your sweat._

_I missed you._

I let myself surrender to the kisses and the small nips she began to land on my jaw, then down my throat, in the middle of my chest and down my stomach, shivers of pure pleasure running through me every time I felt her lips reconnect with my skin. She swiftly pulled off my jeans, then guided me to lay down on the couch, all the while still on top of me.

I gladly welcomed the warmth of her mouth back on my lips, and let out a low hum as I felt her fingers on my back, fumbling with the hook of my bra. It was off before I knew it, and I found myself letting out a gasp of both pleasure and relief when I felt her tongue starting to explore the sensitive skin of my breasts.

As her full attention was still on my chest, I reached for her bra, wanting to get rid of it and feel more of her. But with a swift yet firm move, Brittany grabbed both of my wrist and brought them above my head, as she came back to eye level with me. She shook her head lightly and bit her lip again. "Not yet..." she whispered, then went back to kissing me, her soft tongue slipping right back into my mouth. She started a slow rocking of her hips against my lower abdomen, all the while keeping my wrists blocked in her firm grip. Needless to say, the amount of pleasure I was experiencing was driving me insane.

I loved letting Brittany take control. There was something extremely erotic about the way her usual quiet and kind demeanor was sometimes replaced by this rare yet welcome sort of confidence. Both this and the fact that, despite my much stronger personality and slightly cocky attitude, I had absolutely no problem in giving up control and fully enjoying the sweet surrender were signs of the deep bond of trust Brittany and I shared.

I kept my arms in the same position even when she let go of them and leaned back to readjust her position on top of me. I raised my hips at the same time she reached for my underwear, eager to feel her touch where I needed it the most. Once they were off, she wasted no time in laying back fully on top of me and finally starting a slow, steady motion of her fingers against my sensitive area.

I closed my eyes in pleasure as Brittany's touches and kisses worked their magic on my body. My hands now completely free, I gripped her arms, her back, her face, desperate to just feel more and more. I started following the motion of her hands with my hips, needing as much friction as possible. After a while, sensing my growing need, she daringly pushed two fingers inside of me and immediately increased her pace.

"OH... Fuck... right there..."

I was now unable to control my body and the moans coming from my throat, as I was getting closer and closer to falling off the edge. But Brittany was subjecting me to a wonderful torture: every time I got closer to a possibly mind-blowing orgasm, she purposefully changed something in her motions just to keep me hanging a little bit more. I was literally squirming when she finally decided to give up on her game. She hooked one arm underneath my right leg and raised it up towards my chest; this allowed me to feel her so deep inside of me that with only a few more pumps of her hand I reached the point of no return. My final cry of pleasure was muffled by her lips crashing against mine, and our mouths stayed glued together until I had completely run out of whimpers.

When I had finally regained my breath, I brought my arms around her torso and pulled her flat against me. We exchanged a few lazy kisses, that however were enough to bring me back into the moment pretty quickly. Before she could protest, I unclasped Brittany's bra and managed to flip us over so that she was laying beneath me. As much as I loved the sexy garment, finally being able to get rid of it was an absolute pleasure. I threw it somewhere on the ground and without giving it a second look I cupped one of her breasts and began a sweet attack on Brittany's neck, able to feel the vibrations coming from her throat as she giggled at my eagerness.

"I thought you liked that..." she playfully said in a low voice.

"Yeah, but it's much better off..." I joked back, without even detaching my lips from her skin. I took my time in aiming my kisses lower and lower, wanting to work her up as much as possible. If Brittany taking charge was a huge turn on for me, so it was having her writhing beneath me, feeling every single twitch of her muscles as her body begged for my touch.

As I took a nipple in my mouth, teasing it with twirls of my tongue, I elicited whimpers and moans from her throat, a familiar music to my ears that only in that moment I realized I had dearly missed in the time we had spent apart, when the invisible wall dividing us had made even the most innocent of kisses feel weird and out of place. But now, as I ran my hands up and down her body, as I felt Brittany's tight grip on the skin of my back, I could also feel our bond being tighter than ever. She was warm and alive under my fingertips, something I knew I was never gonna take for granted ever again.

I took my time teasing her taut abs with my tongue, feeling the shivers of anticipation as I kept moving towards her very lower abdomen. I pushed her underwear down her legs, then readjusted my position so that my head was right between them; I decided to tease her a bit more by peppering small kisses all over her inner thighs. She was doing her best not grab my hair and push my head exactly where she needed it the most, so she gripped the pillows tightly. "Mhm... Please..." she whimpered, overwhelmed by need. I felt her hips pushing upwards and, mindful of the previous torture I had been submitted to, I put my hand flat against her abdomen and pushed them back down. However, when I heard the frustrated groan that followed, I smirked to myself and pulled Brittany's legs on my shoulders, before finally giving her what she needed. The first stroke of my tongue against her core, long and slow, had her moaning in pleasure and relief.

After what could have been minutes as well as hours, I found myself pumping two digits into her as my tongue expertly worked on her clit. Given her crazy stamina, pushing Brittany off the edge was always a challenge, that however I took more than gladly every time. When I finally felt her contracting on my fingers, I stilled the movements of my hand, keeping up with the gentle suction of my mouth as she rode the waves of her orgasm, hips raised impossibly high, heels digging into my back.

She finally slumped back on the couch, exhausted. I wiped my chin with the back of my hand before moving back up and collapsing on top of her, both of us happily worn out.

* * *

My body deliciously trapped between Brittany's firm thighs, my head resting on her chest, one of her hands softly massaging my scalp as the other one caressed my back, I was in heaven. I didn't even mind the stickiness of our bodies tangled together; actually, it almost intensified the intimacy of the moment.

"Are you sleepy?" she asked me in a soft voice.

"No... Just relaxed..." I answered, then turned my head to look up at her.

She smiled softly. "Wanna take a bath?"

I nodded, mirroring her smile. "Yeah, in a while..."

I pushed myself up on my elbows and leaned forward, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. And as our mouths kept sharing unspoken words of love, a pure, perfect thought stirred in my heart and took over my mind.

_You will love this woman for the rest of your life._

* * *

After a warm, relaxing bath, we crawled in bed without even bothering to get dressed.

"Babe?" I said after a while, "I was thinking..."

"Yeah?" Brittany answered, looking up at me as her head rested on my shoulder.

"We should go buy some stuff for the house tomorrow."

"What kind of stuff?" She asked, curious.

"I don't know. Whatever you like. I mean... All your stuff is already here, but you're moving in_ officially _now, so I thought we could change something in the house. You know, to celebrate. It could even be just a couple of ornaments, or some new frames for the photos on the shelf... Anything, really."

"I love the idea. Let's do that..." She said, smiling brightly. "Oh, and I wanna call your parents too. It's your father's house after all, I wanna make sure he's okay with me being here permanently and all..."

"Don't be silly, Britt. They will obviously be thrilled. They love you!"

"Yeah, but still... If we could tell them, I dunno, maybe over Skype, I would feel much better..."

I sighed. "Alright. We can call them tomorrow evening, I guess..."

Brittany kissed my cheek sweetly. "Thank you."

In that moment, Brittany's phone vibrated on the night stand, signaling a new message. She silently patted my arm, asking me to take it for her. I grabbed it and saw Kurt's name on the screen.

"What the hell does he want at half past midnight?" I asked as she opened the text.

Brittany giggled nearly immediately. "Apparently he's having trouble with a hot guy named Sebastian who obviously wants to hookup, while he's torn."

"Torn? Seriously? Gimme the phone, I'll answer..."

She handed me the phone with an amused look and watched as I typed a reply.

_To Kurt:_ Santana here. You need to get laid. If he's cute, go get it on and use a condom.

He texted back almost immediately.

**Kurt**: Always so classy... But thanks for the safe-sex lesson.

We both chuckled at his reply and I put the phone back on the night stand. "He seriously needs to loosen up once in a while..." I mumbled.

"Yeah, well, he's usually super torn even about simple dates..." Brittany commented.

"He's gonna be just fine, I'm sure he knows how to keep safe. I mean, even if I have... exaggerated a bit in the past... with hookups...when I took the test it was all fine, you just need to know what you're doing and..."

"Wait, Santana, what test?" She interrupted me.

I stared at her for a second, slightly puzzled by her question. Then it dawned on me.

"Britt, you seriously think I would have started sleeping with you without taking a blood test first? With my previous... _history_ and all?"

Her expression was halfway between panicked and confused. "Why you never told me you did?"

"At first I didn't want to bring it up cause I didn't want you to feel pressured or anything... but I thought you knew I had gotten tested... I mean, even though I had always been pretty careful... Wait, are you mad at me?" I asked when I saw Brittany's features grow more and more unreadable.

"No!" She was quick to say. "Not at all, it's just... What if it had been somebody else instead of you? God, I was so clueless..."

The situation was kinda surreal, and I honestly didn't understand why Brittany was fretting so much about something that hadn't even happened. Still, her confused, frustrated and incredibly cute pout brought a smile to my lips.

"Britt, hey... It's all cool. I mean you can consider yourself lucky..." I started, feigning an exaggerated cockiness with the hope of making her smile "... since you have such a responsible, smart, brilliant, hilarious and incredibly attractive girlfriend... who, for the record, is also incredibly skilled in bed... So yeah, don't worry no more."

She sent me a glance, and a second later we were both laughing out loud, whatever weirdness the previous conversation had brought up already quickly forgotten. Just as it always happened with Brittany.

"I love you, _incredibly skilled girlfriend_."

"I love you too, _mi amor_. Forever."


	29. Chapter 29

**Warning you, this is gonna be a long introduction. **

**First of all, HELLO. You guys still doing ok? Cause it's been a pretty long time. I have a history of apologizing for my delays, but this time I will specifically explain you why I've been silent for so long. First of all, since last Christmas I've been pushing really hard to get back on track with my studies, that have been the cause of quiet a few concerns for me in the last couple of years. Proud to say that I succeeded in achieving my goals, but doing that has taken away basically ALL my free time. And even when I had a moment to rest, I found it hard to write in a consistent and steady way. What I am about to post here is the result of a lot of bits and pieces that I've put together in different moments over the last couple of months.**

**Second of all, time doesn't forgive. And for as much as Glee still has a special place in me, I've moved on, which has resulted in me slowing down my writing process considerably. Specifically, since January my life has been swallowed by a show whose name starts with The and finishes with 100. I am completely emotionally involved with it, especially RIGHT NOW. I****f you guys watch it too, you'll know what a delicate moment this is for most of the fandom, and that has implications on my writing. I just can't close up, leave ****all of it outside and focus on this story like it deserves because my thoughts, emotions and opinions are somewhere else. **

**This chapter was supposed to be longer and then followed by another one that would have been some sort of epilogue. For all the reasons above, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it; but I really didn't want to keep you guys hanging for too long so I have decided to share what I've been able to come up with so far. I don't know if there will be one or two more chapters, and I would be lying if I said I'm back to working on it in a committed way. But I promise I will bring this journey to its right ending. I hope most of you will still be around to read it.**

**Forgive me for leaving for so long. **

"No way, Britt."

"Why not?"

"This is too expensive! And definitely not what I had in mind."

Brittany sighed, but didn't give up on her attempt of persuasion. "Santana, we need a new tv for the living room."

"We already have one!"

"No, you just moved the small, crappy one from the bedroom to the living room. Come on, this is even nicer than the one you had before!"

Brittany and I were at the shopping mall, looking for stuff to renovate the apartment. Since the moment she had seen this huge smart tv sold on a pretty good price, she had been fixated on buying it, but I wasn't really keen on the idea: she was obviously doing it because she knew I was missing my old flat screen very much.

"Look, there's even a webcam, so we can Skype with your parents without using the computer..."

"Oh, yeah, that is _totally_ gonna convince me..."

Judging by Brittany's expression, I could tell she was growing frustrated, so I decided to cut the sarcasm and go straight to the point. "Britt, listen... I want to buy something that _you_ like, not something for me."

"And I want to buy something useful _for both_. Plus, this would be the first big expense we actually share! And it would make me much happier than spending three dollars each for a stupid frame. Please?"

I held her gaze, pondering her words, and lasted no more than three seconds. "Ugh... I hate you..."

Brittany giggled happily and quickly loaded one of the packages onto our cart. "No, you don't" she then said matter-of-factly as she began to push it down the aisle. This time it was me who sighed, but then I found myself chuckling too as I stepped to her side and wrapped one arm around her waist. "No, I don't..."

We got home not long after, having also bought some new sheets and a small pillow for Lord Tubbington. As Brittany called to order pizza, I went straight to working on the new tv, which turned out to be a pretty easy process; by the time the food arrived, it was all ready and set. I logged in with my Skype profile and just waited for my parents to be online, all the while munching on a slice of pizza, Brittany by my side on the couch.

"San... When is our anniversary?" she asked me all of a sudden.

"...hmm?"

"Our anniversary. What's the date?"

"Is this a test?" I asked, amused. "Cause I'm telling you, I totally remember every single..."

"No, no..." Brittany interrupted me, chuckling lightly. "I mean... _which one_ is the date of our anniversary? First chat, first meeting, first kiss, first date... or when you officially asked me to be your girlfriend...?"

"I'd go for the first time I tried to kiss you and you ran away with no shoes" I joked, earning a playful yet pretty hard shove on my shoulder.

"Asshole... I'm serious!"

"Ok, ok, God..." I said, still chuckling, my hands raised in defeat. "I don't know... I mean, there should be a rule or something, right? Or we just choose?" I suddenly became more serious. "Crap, I really don't know."

I was beginning to realize it wasn't really a silly question, since I obviously had no answer for it. Was it a normal step or did couples _just knew_ the date of their anniversary? Weird.

_I guess teen dramas aren't a good representation of how relationships work. _

"I think we should settle for our first date" Brittany ended up saying as she grabbed her glass from the coffee table. She stared at it for a second, then turned to me with a slight smile. "Man, we're such a weird couple..."

"First date sounds cool to me..." I replied. "And we're not weird. It's just that... neither of us is an expert in relationships, I guess. With the exception of you and Chicago dude, obviously..."

"Oh my God, Santana..." Brittany sighed. "Will you stop bringing him up? I dated him for, like, six months when we were eighteen..."

"So you don't know our anniversary but you kept the count with him, huh?" I asked, now plainly teasing her. She answered by throwing a pillow at me, that I was quick enough to catch as I chuckled lowly. A smirk appeared on her face as she scooted closer to me on the couch.

"You're the one who's jealous of the _single_ boyfriend I've ever had when you've basically lost count of all the girls you've been with?"

_Ouch._

"Yeah, well... None of them was my _girlfriend_, tho."

"None of them?" Brittany asked with a small smirk, already knowing the answer but obviously in the mood for compliments.

"Nope."

"But I'm your girlfriend."

"Yep."

"Sooooo..." she started, dragging her pointer finger up and down my thigh, "...you love me?" She finally asked, and even though she perfectly knew this answer too, she couldn't help but blush lightly. And really, what could I do besides breaking into a huge grin and pulling her close to me?

"You know I love you, dork..."

She gave me a short, sweet kiss and settled her head on my shoulder, satisfied with my answer. For a while we didn't do anything but enjoy the closeness in a comfortable silence, but after not more than five minutes she seemed to have something else to say.

"Can I be honest with you?" Brittany said, her hand now tracing lazy patterns on my belly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not jealous, I'm really not. But sometimes... it kinda bugs me to think that you were my first but I wasn't yours."

I didn't expect that. She had sounded completely calm, so I knew she wasn't mad or heartbroken or anything, but still, I had never thought she could be bothered by something like that. It did make sense, but it came as unexpected. I took my time in thinking about it and finding an answer, and she just waited for me to speak, never moving her head or stopping the patterns of her fingers.

"I don't know if it makes you feel better, but being with you felt really different to me" I ended up saying. "Like, mentally, emotionally... it definitely felt like a first time for me too."

She smiled sweetly at me and landed a soft kiss on my cheek. And I totally knew it was her silent way to tell me that it was all right, that the conversation could be considered over. But hell, even after months together, the infamous Brittany-effect that had me blurt out all my thoughts without any kind of filter was still as present as ever. So yeah, before I had even processed what had just popped up in my head, I was already saying it.

"You weren't my first but... Would you like to be my last?"

_There. You said it._

_Go ahead, turn that pizza crust into a ring and get down on one knee. _

_Jesus, Lopez. WHAT. THE. FUCK._

It wasn't like I didn't know Brittany and I were looking at the same direction when it came to our relationship. It was pretty clear by then that we were both in for a long-term commitment, no doubts about it. But one thing was being aware that we were both serious and willing to put effort into making it work for as long as we could. What I had just hinted at was a different thing. Sorta, kinda, a whole lot different.

Truth to be told, I had been thinking "forever" a lot lately. Also, I had let it slip out a couple of times, but it had never felt as heavy as the words that I had just blurted out.

The temperature in the room suddenly felt way, way too high. What was I supposed to do now? Make it look like a joke and sneakily take it back? Trying to fix it by explaining better what I meant? Nah. Who was I kidding, I didn't even know what I had actually meant.

I ended up just holding Brittany's gaze, trying my best to hide my inner turmoil and hoping she would say something that could help me out of the situation. The more we kept glancing into each other's eyes, though, the more I realized that she was hoping for the exact same thing; that meant we were stuck in this awkward, intense silence that had me completely paralyzed and all sweaty in my underboob region.

Then my ears heard the familiar ringing sound of a Skype call, and it was enough for us to break our staring contest. Brittany awkwardly detached herself from me and sat upright on the couch as I quickly reached for the remote controller and accepted my parents' call. The first thing that appeared onto the huge flat screen was a close-up of my mother's nose, and not even a second later she had already started yelling.

"SANTANA? CAN YOU HEAR ME? SANTANA?"

"Yes... Mom, don't scream!" I answered, my voice sounding a little hoarse. "And step back... Jesus..."

I heard some rustling and my father's voice muttering something, then the screen was just a blur for a couple of seconds before both my parents finally managed to get properly in front of the camera.

"Sorry girls..." My father said, smiling. "This lady and technology don't really get along. And Diego is not home to help us."

But my mother was too busy staring at us with a creepily happy expression to really care about what he had said. "Ohhh, look at my girls! Aren't you two pretty? WE'RE SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!"

Hearing my loud huff, Brittany was quick to answer for both of us. "We're really happy to see you, too. How are you?" She asked kindly. The conversation went on for a while, and after I got over my initial irritation for my mother's loud antics, I realized how nice it was catch up with my parents from time to time. Being able to talk to somebody else also turned out to be a nice way to dissolve the awkward tension lingering between Brittany and I, so I was happy to keep the conversation going. Anyway, we had wanted to get in touch with them for a reason, so after a while I decided to just get to the point.

"So, we wanted to call you guys because we have something to tell you... I mean, I already told Britt that it's fine, but she still wanted to talk to you about it... Britt?" I said, allowing myself to look towards her again.

"Yeah..." She started, sounding a little nervous. "So, as you know, I've been staying here with Santana for a while..."

"Of course, honey, of course." My mom said, reassuring. I had told them about what had happened with Brittany's father not long before, and they both had been absolutely horrified by it. They had intended on flying to New York to check on her right away, but I had managed to reassure them they weren't needed and that we were gonna visit them later on, once Brittany had healed completely.

"Well, she has asked me to move in for good..." She continued, sending me a lopsided grin that I quickly reciprocated. I reached for her hand and interlaced our fingers. "And I love the idea but... since this apartment belongs to you, I thought it would only be fair to make sure that you're fine with it too."

My mom just displayed a huge smile, obviously enamored of Brittany's shy sweetness. My dad chuckled affectionately, before answering for both of them. "Brittany, we're more than happy to know you're moving in. And as much as we appreciate your politeness, there was really no need to ask for permission. You're family to us, and you'll always be welcome!"

A relieved giggle escaped Brittany's lips, and in that moment I felt incredibly grateful for having such amazing parents. She turned towards me, and I just raised our joined hands and kissed her knuckles lightly.

"This is wonderful, darling!" my mom chirped happily. "It's a relief to know our daughter is in good hands! And you, Santana, treat this girl well, you hear me?"

I was in such a happy mood that I couldn't even fake annoyance. "You know it usually works the other way around, right? As in, you should tell _her_ to treat your daughter right..." I answered playfully.

We kept skyping for a while more, explaining my parents how we had already organized the apartment and what more we were gonna change, and at some point we even introduced Lord Tubbington to them joking about how he was our new roommate (which actually wasn't far from the truth, since we had put all of his stuff in Quinn's old room). Only when we realized it was getting kinda late we finally said bye, of course with the promise of calling again soon.

I yawned loudly, doing a poor job in trying to hide it behind my hand. Before I could groan about still having to clean up the remaining of our dinner, Brittany had already started gathering all the stuff.

"Go to bed, I'll take care of this, you're waking up early tomorrow. I'll be there in five minutes, kay?"

She didn't even wait for my response, she just gave me a light peck on the lips and headed towards the kitchen with her hands full.

_And then you wonder why you keep thinking about THAT._

_She's perfect for you. Just perfect._

I undressed and crawled into bed, not allowing myself to completely fall asleep until Brittany had joined me under the covers. Not more than ten minutes later she entered the bedroom quietly, without turning on the light. My eyelids were already closed, so I could only hear her shuffling around for a minute before she finally lifted the covers to lay beside me.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled, lazily outstretching my arms to signal that I wanted her close. I felt her moving until she could throw an arm around my waist and nestle her head right under my chin, almost flush against me. I sighed happily, and I was about to let sleep overcome my senses when I heard her voice, barely a whisper.

"I think I'd love to be your last..."

I literally felt my insides melt. And I knew I was already way too emotional to be able to say something, so I just pressed my lips to her forehead and just kept them there, glued to her skin, as her hold on my waist tightened, until I couldn't tell what was a dream and what was reality anymore.

_Just perfect._

* * *

I took a step back and felt a weird sense of accomplishment.

Brittany and I had spent the whole day going from office to office, waiting in queues and signing tons of papers, all because moving in together had turned out to be much more complicated than what they usually show on tv. First of all we had had to figure out where to go to register her change of address, and we had ended up in a place full of bitchy secretaries who were more moody than helpful. Once we had managed to get it done, we had realized we needed to communicate the change to Brittany's bank, which had ended up in a 45 minutes car ride followed by 30 minutes of queue because apparently the whole thing couldn't be done over the phone.

Then Brittany had remembered she had her old address on her work contract too, so she had called Mike to let him know. He had been nice enough to assure her he would take care of it, but he had told her he couldn't handle the stuff regarding her job insurance and that she had to contact the company who had made it. Needless to say, calls, offices and queues all over again.

These were the rare moments when I got to see Brittany's social anxiety issues. Even though she had told me since day one about her shyness and how she often had trouble fitting in, she had never really shown that side of herself much while with me. Interacting with strangers, though, had a really big impact on her: she seemed unable to answer even the simplest of questions, and was always overly worried about the smallest details. Her level of stress was so high that she almost seemed to be in physical pain.

So that day I had done most of the talking throughout the various offices and I had handled everything that didn't require to be done specifically by her. Of course I didn't mind giving her my support, and it was in these occasions that I realized how much Brittany had challenged herself to be with me and to fit into my world. Because if that was how she usually related to people she didn't know, then she had definitely pushed herself way past her comfort zone in order to be able to fit in with my friends and my family.

Anyway, the day was finally over now, and we had just done the last thing needed to make Brittany's move official: adding her name on the buzzer. I tilted my head to the side and stared at our last names written together in Brittany's messy script. They couldn't look more perfect.

I felt Brittany's chin on my shoulder, her hands finding their way around my waist to rest over my stomach. I slightly leaned back and sighed happily. "Looks nice, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah, very nice."

We stayed there in silence for a few more seconds, until I gently patted the back of her hands. "Let's go upstairs? I'm hungry..."

Brittany nodded and followed me inside the building and up to our apartment. Yes, _ours_.

"Chicken noodle soup sounds good?" I asked her when we got into the kitchen.

"Totally. You don't mind cooking?"

"Nah, of course not. Let me take care of dinner for a change."

She just chuckled lightly and headed towards the bedroom, probably to get changed. I started humming lowly to myself as I quickly gathered everything I needed to make my ass-kicking soup. It was halfway done when Brittany came back, phone in her hand.

"Kurt just texted me... He quit his job at the store" she announced, hopping onto the counter.

"Seriously?"

"Yup. Remember the interview he went to last week? He got the job. Full time receptionist."

"Oh, well, good for him... Your ex boss was a nightmare, wasn't she?"

"Totally. I'm so glad we both escaped her..."

She kept me company in the kitchen for a while more, just chatting about this and that, before announcing she was gonna look for Lord Tubbington to feed him. As I was about to pour the soup, though, I heard her calling me from the entryway.

And I didn't like the tone of her voice at all.

"Santana?"

"Yes?" I answered, quickly heading towards the entrance of the apartment. Brittany was crouching down in front of the door, her back towards me so that I couldn't see what she was staring at. When I got by her side, I saw she was holding a white envelope in her hands.

"Was this here when we arrived?" She asked me, and the panic in her voice made me really uneasy, for reasons that I couldn't really figure out yet.

"No... I don't think so... Britt, what's going on?"

She got up slowly and showed me the upper right corner of the envelope, where somebody had written her name. However, I didn't really have time to process how creepy that was, because her next words sent a chill right down my spine.

"My dad wrote this."


End file.
